


The Trip

by Clawdiuzz



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Butler, Camping, Death, Gen, Gods, Horror, Kappa, Maggots, Mythology - Freeform, Reapers, Scary, Shinigami, black - Freeform, clawdiuzz, djinn, forest, horse, woods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2018-11-22 00:19:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 57,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11368653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clawdiuzz/pseuds/Clawdiuzz
Summary: When the reapers receive notification that they are expecting a large number of souls to appear for unknown reasons, William and co. are instructed by their supervisors to go and investigate. After an accident on the way however, they find themselves in a strange forest where the sun never sets and temperatures start to rise. As they look for escape, they see more and more horrifying things and wonder whether the heat is affecting them or if there really are creatures out to get them... A relatively long tale of horror and deception with some scenes of violence. P.S. I know the title is lame but I couldn't come up with one 5 years ago, and I can't now (also it links it back to the Deviantart version this way).





	1. Chapter One

Silence filled the grand hall as the large reaper stepped up onto the stage at the front and addressed the reapers before him. In the front row there sat a rather relaxed looking blond with an extremely bored redhead to his left, and a serious looking dark haired reaper sat next to him. Just next to the serious reaper sat yet another blond, but this one had a rougher appearance and was accompanied by an also somewhat serious, but slightly more relaxed looking reaper to his left. All of them faced the front as the man on stage started to speak.

"Now, I'm sure you're probably all wondering why I have called such a large meeting today, which is not something we normally do unless necessary." He paused for a moment and looked around, surprised at the large amount of reapers that actually worked there; it had been a while since he'd seen them all together like this. "The reason for this is that we have recently received notification that we are to expect a large number of souls in the surrounding area, the reason for which is still as of yet, unknown. As such, it is our duty as the London Division to provide an adequate number of reapers to deal with the situation to avoid any unnecessary complications and to reduce the risk of demons getting there first."

Grell, who had stopped listening a while ago, looked over at Ronald, who also looked half asleep. "Does this guy ever stop talking?" he asked him, laughing slightly. He got irritated when Ronald didn't answer and wondered why until he turned back around to find William staring at them with a look that could kill. 

"Do you ever listen?" he asked, gripping his scythe in a manner that suggested it would soon be used. Grell smiled nervously and faced the front again.

"...and this also means that you will perhaps be able to find out the cause of the soul increase, as well as be able to help assist with the problem. Now, because of the danger and work involved, I will be assigning you to groups of two or three and dispatching each group to a different area. Before I do so, are there any volunteers who would be willing to help?"

Once again, it was Grell who looked around and was surprised to see a few hands in the air. He was in the process of counting them when William grabbed his hair and forced him to face the front again. "Can't you just sit still and face the front?" he asked angrily.

Once the reaper at the front had finished counting, he cleared his throat and spoke again. "Very well then. It seems that nine of you have volunteered, so you will be placed in three groups of two and one group of three is that alright?" Murmurs of agreement filled the room as the nine volunteers proceeded to split themselves into groups. "Now, are there any more before I divide some more of you myself? Obviously you can't ALL go, as we need some to remain here for the more daily matters, but-"

"WE'LL GO!!" A voice called out suddenly, accompanied by Grell standing up and pulling Ronald with him. "Ronald and I will go!"

"Are you crazy?!" Ronald asked, pulling himself free. "Why the hell would I want to go? Why would YOU want to go?"

"It'll be fun!" Grell said. "We'll finally get out of the office and away from paperwork! Besides, it's been ages since I had a fun assignment to do!"

"Very well then," said the reaper in charge, despite Ronald's protests. "However..." He paused and regarded them closely. "You two are known to be two of the biggest morons in the entire division, and I think you should have someone responsible with you also." He paused again and looked at William, who had to stop himself from internally crying as he realised what was coming. "William, you are their supervisor, yes?"

"Yes..."

"And you deal with them on a daily basis, therefore knowing how to handle them, yes?"

William sighed. "Yes...."

"Right then, it's decided; you shall accompany them on the assignment."

"WHAT?!" screamed Grell and Ronald in unison. "Please, you can't!" pled Grell. "If he comes, it'll be no different to working in the office! We might as well not go if he's there!" William looked slightly hurt by the fact that both Ronald and Grell appeared to hate him, but only slightly; he didn't exactly like them much either. 

"That is quite enough, Sutcliff!" Shouted the reaper at the front, moving forward to yell in Grell's face and causing him to sit down again. "Who do you think you are to question my authority? Do you not think that with as high a status as I have that there is not some reasoning behind my decisions? Do you think you're better than me?!"

"Uh- I...um... I didn't-"

"Now we're answering back are we?! Right that's it, now you're definitely having William accompany you, AND I'm sending your group to one of the busiest areas we're expecting. I also want a full report of everything that happens in minute detail from all THREE of you, am I clear?"

"Grell, you idiot! This is all YOUR fault!" groaned Ronald, glaring at Grell who was now cowering under the gaze of the man that stood above him.

"As for you two," said the now angry reaper, directing his gaze at Eric and Alan who sat to William's left, "I'm sending you off as well."

"What? Why?" asked Eric angrily. "You know we can't go anywhere because of Alan's condition!"

"Don't worry, I'll ensure that you get sent to a quieter area. As for why you're going, I was considering sending you anyway, and have confirmed my choice as a way to emphasise that I take absolutely no nonsense from anyone; if one of you causes trouble, it affects you all and this is true for everyone," he said, looking at everyone sitting in the thousands of seats. He cleared his throat and stepped back. "As for the rest if you, I have a list of names here that I shall now read out..."

"I don't believe this..." grumbled Eric. He turned to look at Alan and was surprised to find that he was smiling. "What the heck are you smiling at?"

"Why are you so angry?" Alan asked, still smiling. "I think this'll be great! It's been far too long since I got to do something exciting like this!"

"But what about-"

"Forget the whole thorn thing! I'll be alright, I know I will! Besides, he said he would send us somewhere safe!"

"Are you sure?" Eric asked, shocked at Alan's eagerness to go. "If you want me to, I can have a word with the big guy up front..."

"Don't worry about it! Seriously, I'm looking forward to this. I was going to volunteer before, but I was worried about what you would say..."

"Tch... You don't need my approval for everything you know. You complain about wanting independence but you're always worried what I'll think..."

"I didn't want to cause a fuss..."

"What are you two whispering about over there?" said Grell grumpily, leaning over William so he could hear what they were saying.

"Nothing to do with you, Sutcliff," Eric replied. "And I think you'd better get off Will before he MAKES you get off."

"For the last time..." William started, punching Grell in the face to get him off him, "...it's WILLIAM."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first of 23 chapters which I am slowly uploading them as I check them and re-edit them (most of the story was written 5 years ago). I hope you enjoy it!


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter where things start to go wrong for our reaper friends...

A few hours later, William, Grell and Ronald were sat in a carriage on the way to their assigned destination. As expected, they were rather disgruntled at being told they were to leave almost straightaway after they had just been told about it. Grell however, was now feeling a lot happier after being told that they would have to stay in tents throughout the duration of the assignment, and had practically fainted from happiness when it was revealed that due to funding difficulties, they would all have to share one big tent together.

"I still can't believe they only gave us one tent," William said coldly as he stared out of the window at the passing landscape. When _he_ had been told about the situation, he had to restain himself from punching the man telling him, held back only by his desire to keep a professional manner.

"At least it's a big tent..." said Ronald who was sitting opposite William and also staring out of the window. He had tried to act cool and nonchalant when he was told, trying to see the bright side of it, but screaming inside. The thought of sharing a tent with either of them was enough to make him want to stab himself, but BOTH of them in the same tent? It wasn't exactly as though he hated either of them much, but something just felt weird to him about having to sleep in the same small space as two other guys.

"Well I think it will be fun!" Grell exclaimed happily. He was sitting next to Ronald, who was on his left, because William had taken up the whole seat on the other side with his scythe.

"You would, wouldn't you," William retorted, finally turning to face the two reapers in front of him. "What happened to 'oh please don't make him come' and 'can't you stay here, William?' It all changed when you heard about the tent, didn't it? This, Sutcliff, is exactly why I can't stand having you anywhere near me."

"Jeeze William, you don't have to be THAT harsh," Ronald said, regretting it immediately when he saw William's hand go towards his scythe. 

"I have every right to be angry," replied the dark-haired reaper. "I don't see how hard it could have been to just provide two more tents."

Ronald thought for a moment. "They probably just did it because Grell pissed them off." The two of them looked over at Grell, who had gotten much quieter after William's angry remark. 

"Most likely," said William adjusting his glasses. "Since it is his fault, I think it seems only fair that Sutcliff should have to sleep outside and keep guard."

"Huh?!" Grell cried, looking to Ronald for backup and receiving none. "You can't just do that to me Will! ...Or..." he looked between them and smiled slightly. "Perhaps you just want Ronald all to yourself?"

"Eww, no way!" Ronald said, preparing to hit Grell himself if he had to.

"Sutcliff, please refrain from such suggestive and unprofessional remarks." William was starting to get annoyed, it was obvious. His eye had started to twitch slightly and he was frequently adjusting his glasses in a manner that suggested violence wasn't far off. Even Grell sensed his anger at last and muttered a quiet 'sorry' before looking out of the window again.

About half an hour later, another carriage drew up alongside theirs on Grell's side. He looked out and was surprised yet happy to see Eric and Alan in the other vehicle. "Hey look, it's Eric and Alan!" he said, trying you get the other two to share his excitement. "Hey guys! Hey!" his shouts were met by silence and it was obvious that Eric and Alan were ignoring him. "Maybe they just didn't see me..."

"Yo, Eric! Alan!" Ronald shouted, pushing Grell out of the way.

"Oh, hi Ronald!" Alan said cheerfully, leaning out of the window. "Fancy seeing your carriage here! Just luck I suppose eh?"

"Guess so!" Ronald replied happily. "Watch you don't fall out of the window now, it might hurt!"

"I'm not an idiot Ronald..."

"Ask them if they got two tents," William whispered to Ronald.

"Uh... Boss wants to know how many tents you got for some reason," Ronald enquired , much to Alan's confusion.

"Umm... Two I think. Pretty small though," Alan replied.

"Damn it Sutcliff..." William growled, glaring at Grell. "I knew this was your fault." Grell just nodded, upset at being ignored by the others, and tried to look out of the window even though Ronald was leaning over him talking to Alan. William merely sighed in exasperation and shuffled his way over to the other side of the carriage so he could converse with Eric and Alan.

***

Not long after, they came to a divide in the road. While Eric and Alan's carriage turned right, the one containing the other three turned left and started to run parallel to a forest on the left which, in the growing dark, looked rather malevolent. Once again, the three of them were looking out of the window, although there was not much to look at now apart from the woods and a sweeping field to the right, over which the sun was setting. A strange sense of foreboding filled Ronald's thoughts as he looked out at the trees which sped past, but he chalked it up to fatigue and said nothing.

"How long is this going to take?" complained Grell at last. "It's getting dark out there, what if we can't set up our tent?"

"It doesn't matter since you'll be sleeping outside anyway," William replied. Grell was going to say something, but decided against it. William was just joking after all, surely? He had to be... As for Ronald, he was now sitting in a manner that suggested he could fall asleep at any moment. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea, Grell thought, half lying down himself. "What are you doing, Sutcliff?" enquired William.

"Sleeping. Now leave me alone," replied the redhead before closing his eyes.

***

A few hours later Grell opened his eyes to find that the carriage had stopped. He looked over and found that William and Ronald were both asleep, using their blazers as a form of blanket. Grell rubbed his eyes and looked outside, curious as to why the carriage had stopped moving. He considered waking the other two but decided he would look around outside first to check if they had arrived at their designated spot.

As he got out, he was surprised to find that the carriage driver was nowhere to be seen and the horses were just standing there, silent and motionless. He went up to one, and was about to stroke it when another carriage rushed past, almost hitting him and accompanied by frantic yells for help. Looking after it as it rushed away, he realised that the other carriage also had no driver and seemed to be out of control. Quickly, he rushed back inside his own and shook William and Ronald awake, franticly trying to explain what had just happened.

"Just calm down will you?!" William growled, angered at being woken up by a screaming idiot.

"I can't! I think those guys were in danger! For all we know, that carriage could belong to Eric and Alan!"

"So what if it did?" yawned Ronald. "It's not like we'd be able to do anything about it anyway... I mean, none of us even know how to control this thing."

"It doesn't matter, I'm sure we'd figure it out!" Grell said, still jumping up and down and looking in the direction of the runaway carriage.

"Shouldn't we be more concerned with where our own driver has gone?" William said, putting his jacket back on and fixing his glasses. "What if we suddenly run off and leave the poor fellow in the middle of nowhere?"

"But-" Grell looked into the distance again. "Oh to heck with it, if you two won't do something about it, then I will!" With that, he swung himself into the driver's seat and grabbed hold of the horses' reigns. "Uh... Hiyah!" he shouted to the horses, causing them to rush off.

"Sutcliff! What on earth do you think you're doing?!" William yelled out of the window while getting tossed about the much too fast moving carriage. "Are you insane? You'll get us all killed!"

"I don't care!" Grell shouted over the sounds of hooves and wheels, continuing to whip the horses. Eventually, he could see the other carriage in the distance. "There!" he said, pointing it out so the other two could see it.

"Now what?" Ronald asked, also getting thrown about but remaining surprisingly calm about it.

"Now we catch up and see what we can do!" Grell replied and made the horses go even faster until they were soon running alongside the other vehicle. Now that he was closer, he could see that it was in fact Eric and Alan's carriage after all, and the two of them were trapped inside trying to figure out what to do.

"If you just let me go, I can try and stop it!" Eric was shouting.

"But you'll die if you climb out there!" Alan replied, trying to stop him from climbing out of the window. It wasn't long before they noticed Grell's presence. "Grell? Is that you?!" Alan cried happily, finally pulling Eric back and sticking his head out of the window.

"Yeah! What's happening here?!"

"I don't know! We just woke up and our driver was gone!" Eric shouted over the almost deafening noise. "We were going to get out, but the horses suddenly went crazy!"

"OK, hang on!" Grell said, trying to move closer so that they could perhaps jump over to the other carriage. "Do you think you'd be able to jump over here if I got a bit closer?" He asked, still trying to manoeuvre the horses.

"Are you crazy?!" Alan began "There's no way we'd be able to-"

"I think it's a great idea!" Eric said, moving to open the door.

"Eric, no!" Alan protested.

"Look, it's better than nothing isn't it?! At least you'll be safe that way!"

"And what about you?"

"I'm going to try and calm the horses!"

"You're an idiot!" shouted Alan. "There's no way I'm jumping over there!"

Suddenly, William appeared at the door of his, Ronald and Grell's carriage. "Um... I'd be able to help... if you want me to that is."

"Me too!" Said Ronald, also moving closer to the other carriage to their right.

"Right, that settles it." Eric said, grabbing Alan and preparing to throw him across. Just as he was about to do so however, their carriage hit a rock in the road, causing the wheel to snap and making it tip over on its right side.

"NO!!!" screamed Grell as the other vehicle was dragged along the ground, slowing down and leaving Grell too far ahead to do anything. Quickly, he tried to slow the horses in order to go back, but found that they wouldn't listen. 

"Damn it..." William muttered before suddenly opening the door of the carriage and standing on the edge looking behind them.

"...What are you doing?" Ronald asked, afraid of what the answer would be.

"If I jump now, I'll still be able to land on their carriage and try to stop the horses." He said, grabbing his scythe.

"What?! You can't-" It was too late; he had jumped. And now he was flying through the air towards a carriage getting pulled along by frantic horses and falling to pieces as it did so. 

 

TO BE CONTINUED~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now things are starting to get interesting...


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter where things start to get weird...

Inside the overturned carriage, Eric and Alan were struggling to avoid hitting the ground, clinging to anything they could grab onto and trying to find a way to stop the carriage from moving. As it had fallen over, Alan's right leg had gotten rammed against the side of the door and he was now silently crying in pain as he realised that it was covered in blood. 

"Don't worry Alan..." Eric said, trying to calm him down. "This will all be over soon, and we'll be able to get your leg fixed up; it's probably just a scratch anyway..." Alan was just about to reply when the two of them heard a large thump above their heads, followed by the sound of someone cursing which seemed to suddenly get farther away as the carriage continued forward. 

"What was that?" Alan asked worriedly, forgetting about his leg for a moment.

"I don't know..." replied Eric, still trying to get them both straightened up. Suddenly a head appeared in the broken window frame above their heads and called down.

"Just try to remain calm, everything will be alright."

"William!" cried Alan happily as he realised who it was. "What are you-"

"Just stop talking and try not to fall while I tend to the horses..." William had what looked like a cut on his forehead.

"What happened to your head?" Alan called.

"I miscalculated the distance and landed on the upturned wheel, which consequently resulted in me being almost thrown off and having to jam my scythe in the spokes in order to stay on. In the process of climbing up, a bit of stray wood hit me, that's all."

"How the heck did you jump over here?!" Eric asked. "The speed your carriage was going at-"

"Just leave it, alright? You two stay there, I'm going to see what I can do up front."

"OK, but please hurry!" Alan shouted "I think I seriously hurt my leg! ....And Eric is heavy."

"Hey, if I move, we both fall ok?" Eric said grouchily; Alan was jammed bwteeen the seats, inches from the ground and as much as Eric was trying to keep somewhat afloat by holding onto the edges of the seats, he couldn't help but have to rely on poor Alan just a little to stop himself from falling. "Besides, it's not exactly like I'm enjoying this awkward positioning..."

"From up here that all sounds highly unprofessional," William said from above. Eric and Alan looked at each other in surprise; had William just made somewhat of a joke? Perhaps that knock on the head had done him some good after all. Nonetheless, it made the two reapers laugh a little, despite their predicament. 

Meanwhile at the front of the coach, William had rather unsuccessfully made an attempt to slow the horses by grabbing their reigns and pulling on them. The fact that the reigns were a tangled mess didn't help at all, and he found himself getting somewhat irritated at the lack of response from the creatures. He could feel the wood beneath him splintering, getting left behind on the road with every step the horses took; soon there would be nothing left. As he pulled on them tighter in an attempt to stop them, he felt something warm on his cheek and cursed once again as he realised that it was the blood from the gash on his forehead. Still holding onto the reigns with one hand, he used the other to search around in his jacket and retrieve a handkerchief, which he held to the wound to stop the flow of blood that seemed to be getting heavier for some reason. With one hand, attempting to control the horses was proving to be even harder and he found that the carriage was now moving in a zigzag pattern as the horses started to move even more erratically.

Inside, Alan could feel himself beginning to slip, getting closer to the ground; just a bit further and he would end up getting dragged along it. As he was trying to pull himself up, the carriage jolted suddenly as it hit yet another rock in the road and Eric only just managed to grab onto the front of his shirt before hit the rough path below. Of course, by letting go, he also slipped down somewhat and the two were now hanging on for dear life as William still struggled above with the creatures.

"Wh-What about the tents?" Alan asked quietly, trying to take their mind off the situation. All of the movement had caused him to land in a rather inconvenient way, in that his chin was almost touching his chest and making his neck hurt a lot.

"What about them?" Eric asked while attempting to move into a better position in order to relieve some of the pressure on Alan's neck.

"Well I mean... we'll need to have somewhere to sleep tonight, and I don't much like the idea of sleeping outside... It's cold and it's dark-"

"Alan, if we get through this - which we will - we're not going to have to worry about sleeping arrangements, because we'll be going straight back to the division and complaining about all of this. Besides, there's no way we're staying all the way out here with your leg like that," he said, nodding at Alan's bleeding leg.

"But we'll need rest... It's pretty late, and I'm tired and-"

"And nothing," Eric said firmly. "We'll be going back to the division tonight, even if I have to carry you all the way there myself."

"I'd rather you didn't...." Alan said, finally adjusting his head so that his neck didn't hurt as much. "Anyway, about the tents...."

"Forget the tents!" Eric said in disbelief. How could he be talking about tents in a situation like this?

"No, listen! Won't they all be angry that we lost their tents? It seems they're rather expensive..."

"For god sake, will you forget the tents? When they hear what happened to us, the least of their worries will be tents!" Eric said, irritated at Alan's seeming lack of care about what was happening. "We just need to remain calm, wait for William to stop the horses, and then we'll get out of here and go home, alright? We'll fix your leg and your neck if it's still sore and we'll just go back to the usual paperwork."

Alan just nodded and stared past Eric at the darkening sky above through the broken window frame.

Up above, William was still trying to stop the horses when he heard someone call his name. "Will!" shouted the voice, which he soon realised belong to Grell, who had finally slowed down enough to run alongside their carriage. Grell manoeuvred the horses so that his carriage was almost parallel with the one on which William was sitting. "What happened to your head?" Grell asked, both surprised by not being corrected for calling him Will, and worried about the blood he saw.

"Don't worry, it was just some wood..." William said, removing the handkerchief to find that the flow of blood had finally stopped. He put it back into his pocket and held onto the reigns with two hands once more. "I can't seem to stop these things..." William said irritably. 

"It's OK boss, I have an idea!" Ronald called out happily, opening the door of his carriage and standing on the ledge. 

"Please let it be a good one!" Alan called up from the still steadily disintegrating carriage getting dragged along. 

"It is!" Ronald said. He leaned out of the door slightly and called over to Grell. "Do you think you'd be able to speed up a bit so I'm closer to the horses?"

"It depends on what you want to do..." Grell said, worried about causing yet more trouble. Ronald quickly explained that he intended to jump onto the back of one of the horses and try to control it in an attempt to get the other to stop. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea..." Grell said, looking to William for advice.

"I think it's worth a try; it might help a little at least," William said, moving back to leave enough room for Ronald to jump over. Grell thought about it for a moment before finally adjusting the carriage's position, allowing Ronald to jump rather elegantly over towards one of the horses and pull himself onto it with ease. William and Grell stared in amazement at his surprisingly good horse mounting skills before Ronald just laughed and explained to them both that he used to live on a farm many years ago which owned a lot of horses. Despite his successful jump across though, the horse still refused to slow down, despite frequent shouts and kicks from its rider. Eventually Ronald stopped trying and turned to William, who sat behind him on the side of the carriage.

"There's nothing for it, you'll have to cut the ropes," he said, pointing to the reigns and ropes connected to the horse.

"Are you out of your mind?" said Grell "If he does that, you'll be riding a crazed horse bareback with no means of controlling it!"

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine!" Ronald replied a bit too happily. "Besides, if one goes, the carriage will slow down and you'll be able to get those two out!"

"Indeed, our main concern here is Eric and Alan after all..." William said, pondering the possibility of cutting the ropes.

"Why don't you just cut the ropes away and let the horses run off without riding them?!" Grell asked, panicking about what would happen if Ronald rode off.

"Because what's the fun in that?" Ronald replied, grinning. "Besides," he said, taking on a more serious tone, "these horses are valuable creatures, we can't just lose them." He patted the black horse upon which he sat, which paid no notice to him.

"A fair argument indeed," William said, suddenly severing the ties with his scythe and watching as Ronald sped off far ahead. The sudden absence of the horse caused the carriage to jolt and William almost fell off, saved only by grabbing onto the side of a wheel. Inside, the movement cause Alan to fall further, this time hitting the ground and scraping his already injured leg against it. As he let out a cry of pain, William managed to reach down and pull Eric up, who in turn, also pulled Alan up, and the two now sat on the edge of a now much slower, but rapidly decreasing carriage. Grell was now, once again much farther ahead and the remaining horse was still running erratically. William looked back at the other horse and came to a decision.

"There's nothing else for it, I'll have to cut that one free too. The loss of just one horse doesn't really matter in the scheme of things." With that, he severed the remaining ropes and was about to head back over to check on Eric and Alan when he suddenly found himself being jerked from the carriage, his scythe tangled up in the reigns that remained on the horse. Eric and Alan stared in shock as they watched William get dragged away, holding onto his scythe for dear life as he tried and failed to climb onto the horse's back.

"William!" Grell cried as he saw him go past. The red reaper looked franticly back and forth between Alan and Eric on the now stationary carriage and William who was steadily getting further away. Suddenly, Eric grabbed Alan and started running towards the other carriage, despite Alan's embarassed protests to be put down. Grell managed to slow his carriage slightly as Eric started to catch up. Eric jerked open the door of the carriage before practically throwing Alan inside and then jumping in himself. 

"Get this thing going!" he shouted to Grell before propping Alan's injured leg up on one of the seats.

Further ahead, Ronald's horse was still galloping away, although he had now managed to gain at least some control. Eventually, they came to a turning, but rather than turn, the animal dashed headfirst into the thick forest in front of them before suddenly coming to a halt, causing Ronald to fall off. He stood up, dusting himself off and looked at the horse which had just stopped moving for seemingly no reason. Hesitantly, he reached out to touch it, but before he could, it let out an extremely loud whinny before collapsing to the ground in front of him. "What the hell?!" Ronald exclaimed, moving closer to the horse to try and see what had happened.

Back in the carriage, Alan's leg was starting to bleed heavily despite Eric using his tie to try and stop the blood by tying it above the cut. Grell was whipping the horses franticly in an attempt to catch up with William and was overjoyed when he finally saw a smudge of black in front of him. "I'm coming Will, don't worry!" he cried, whipping the horses even more and finally coming up behind William and the horse. From where he was sitting, Grell could see that William was holding onto the animal's tail to try and avoid hitting the ground while also trying to somehow untangle his scythe. "William!" Grell said, moving closer so that the door of the carriage was parallel with William. "You need to let the scythe go! Let go and we'll be able to get you into the carriage!"

"Never!" shouted William in response. "A good reaper never loses their scythe, no matter the situation!" And with that, he finally managed to free it, still holding onto the tail of the beast. 

"Just shows what determination can do..." Eric said, moving to open the door. To his surprise, he was quite close to William and he could see the panic on his face, despite the fact that he was trying to remain calm. "Just let go and I'll catch you!" Eric shouted over, moving closer.

"I-I'd rather not..." said William, his face reddening with shame at the thought of having to be saved by someone else. "I'm perfectly fine myself; I am a death god aftera-" he didn't get to finish because the horse suddenly reared up, making him lose his grip on it. As he prepared himself for the impact of the ground, he was surprised to find himself floating instead. Or rather, he had just been caught by Eric, who was holding onto William's collar and trying to pull him in. Eventually he managed to get him inside and slammed the door shut. William was quick to straighten himself up, adjusting his glasses and attempting to fix his wind-ruffled hair before sitting down next to Alan. "What happened to your leg?" he asked, trying to pretend nothing had happened. 

"Everything..." Alan replied.

"Guys, look! It's Ronald!" Grell shouted suddenly, and the three of them looked out of the window to see a rather nervous looking Ronald slowly walking towards them on the road ahead. Eric opened the door on the other side of the carriage now and grabbed Ronald as they passed, taking him by surprise and causing to call out in anger.

"What did you do that for?!" Ronald yelled.

"Why do you think?" Eric asked, moving over so Ronald could sit down. Ronald just leaned out of the window and shouted over to Grell. 

"Grell! You need to listen to me, we have to get out of here! There's something weird here! You need to-"

"It's alright Ronald!" Grell shouted back. "I'm going to start heading back to the division as soon as I can turn round!"

"No! You need to turn back now!!" Ronald shouted desperately.

"What happened?" asked William, curious about what Ronald was saying. "Where's the horse?"

Ronald paused for a moment, staring wide eyed in fear at all of them, before he looked away and replied very quietly: "It died."

 

TO BE CONTINUED!!!


	4. Chapter Four

"What do you mean it died?" William asked, surprised at what Ronald had just said.

"I told you, it died. It... It ran into the forest, and I fell off and... When I went to see if it was OK, it just fell over and died," Ronald replied quietly, trying to find a comfortable position to sit in.

"Perhaps it had a heart attack or something?" Alan theorised. "I mean, it had been running extremely fast after all and it seemed extremely distressed..."

"Maybe... What happened to your leg?" Ronald asked Alan, finally noticing that his leg was bleeding quite heavily.

"Why does everyone keep asking that?" Alan asked, half joking in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Anyway, it was scraped along the road during the commotion," he eventually explained.

"Oh... That sucks. How's head?" Ronald asked William, noticing that there was still some dried blood on William's forehead.

"It's fine; it stopped bleeding ages ago." William replied, attempting to wipe some of it off and stopping when he realised doing so hurt. 

A long silence followed after that and the four of them just sat, looking out of the windows at the approaching darkness as Grell continued to try and find a place they could turn. Ronald had calmed considerably since his frantic shouts to turn around earlier, but only because he appeared to be in some sort of shock. As it started to get darker and colder outside, it soon became clear that there weren't going to be any turning points along the seemingly endless road. Ronald tried to point out that there had been a turning at the point where his horse had run into the woods, but strangely, they did not come across it again. Three of the reapers in the carriage eventually fell asleep somehow, even Alan with depspite his pained leg, yet William remained awake contemplating the situation. Eventually, he leaned out of the window and called up to Grell who had finally gained full control of the horses.

"How are you faring up there, Sutcliff?" he called, glad to feel the cool wind on his face.

"Not bad I suppose..." replied Grell. "But I could really do with a rest..."

William thought for a moment before opening the door and climbing up to the driver's seat next to Grell. "I'll take over for a minute if you want," he said, picking up some of the reigns. "Go and get some rest, we can take it in turns; it'll make it easier."

"Are you sure?" Grell asked, handing over the rest of the reigns. "These things are really hard to control..."

"I'm sure I'll manage," William replied, half kicking Grell out of the way so he could sit in the centre. "Go and get some sleep or something."

"...Is there even any room in there? I mean, Alan's leg..."

"There's plenty of room, Sutcliff, don't think you can trick your way into sleeping next to me because it's not going to happen," William said irritably; he knew what Grell was up to. Eventually, Grell made his way into the carriage via the same route William had used to get up there. Of course, it meant having to crawl over William, but the dark haired reaper put up with it if it would mean getting Grell out of the way. After some fuss and a few mumbled complaints from a half asleep Eric, William was finally alone at the front of the carriage with the horses. He would have remained that way too, were it not for Grell coming back up just an hour later...

William was sitting fairly relaxed in the driver's seat looking for some way of turning around, or at least trying to work out if the road would take them in a circle, when he suddenly felt a warm presence near him. He sighed before turning to his right and finding Sutcliff sitting there staring at him. 

"Can I help you?" He asked him, trying to focus on the road ahead.

"I can't sleep... It smells of blood in there and it's very uncomfortable too."

"I thought you liked blood?" William asked, recalling the case with that Madam Red lady.

"Not when it's coming from my friends..." replied Grell, finally giving up on staring at William and also looking ahead at the road. "Besides, it's the colour I like best."

William just sighed again before turning to look at Grell once more. He looked extremely worn out and his eyes seemed to be red, either from lack of sleep or crying, which he wouldn't admit to if asked. "Fine then, you can stay up here, but no talking, stroking, hugging, whining, joking or anything else of the sort, understand?"

"Yes sir!" Grell said, pretending to zip his mouth and sitting with his arms folded.

"And none of that nonsense either. A simple yes would have been enough," William stated.

Half an hour later, Grell's silence was actually starting to get more annoying that if he had been speaking. Every time William looked over, he found Grell had been staring at him, but quickly looked away to pretend he hadn't been and eventually he spoke up. "What is it Sutcliff? Why do you keep staring at me?" His question was met by silence and eventually he realised why. "You're allowed to speak..." he sighed.

"Thank you~" Grell said, pretending to unzip his mouth. "I'm watching to make sure you don't fall asleep, it's the last thing we need after all."

"As if I would be foolish enough to do such a thing-" William began.

"You already have though, twice," Grell said, almost a bit too happily. "I've had to take control of the horses a couple of times without you even noticing."

William was taken aback by the fact that he could have fallen asleep so easily. He rubbed his eyes for a moment before speaking. "Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course! I'd never lie to you~" Grell chimed. "But don't worry, now that I'm allowed to speak, I'll be sure to keep you awake, OK?"

"Alright..." William agreed. "Let's both agree to keep each other awake, yes? That way nothing bad can happen."

"Deal!" Grell agreed happily, going to hug William but stopping when he remembered the warning and realised that a fall from such a high, moving place could be dangerous. "Ahaha~" he laughed nervously instead.

William just looked back coldly and the two of them then stared ahead at the road. As they went on, Grell could feel his own eyes getting heavy, helped by the somewhat relaxing rocking of the carriage, but he knew William would wake him up, so he didn't worry too much about it....

***

Grell opened his eyes slowly and wondered for a second where he was and what was happening. As he looked around, he quickly realised in horror that both he and William must have fallen asleep when they were meant to be controlling the horses. Sitting up quickly, he discovered that he was facing a tree into which the carriage had obviously crashed. He looked over at William to see that he was still asleep (or perhaps knocked out) and reached over to him, giving him a gentle nudge. "Hey... Are you alive over there? Wake up, we crashed..." Grell said, rubbing his eyes as a streak of pain ran through his head. William groggily opened an eye and stared at him.

"What?" he groaned.

"We fell asleep you idiot! I told you to keep me awake!"

William sat up suddenly and rubbed the back of his head where he had obviously hit it. "You're the idiot! You were meant to keep me awake!" He looked around. "Where are we?!"

"Some sort of forest it seems... A hot one too..." Grell said, feeling a layer of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Well it is the 16th of June..." William said jumping down and making his way towards the carriage to see if everyone else was okay. Grell sighed and also jumped down. "Where are the horses?" William asked suddenly, pausing and looking over towards the front of the carriage.

"They're here..." Said Grell approaching them. "I guess I'll just wake them up and we can try and get out of here..."

"OK... I'm going to check on Ronald and the others."

"Right... William?"

"Yes?"

"Is it me or does something not seem right?" Grell asked as he hesitantly approached the horses, which were lying down.

"Of course it's not right, we just crashed for goodness sake!" William said, making his way towards the carriage door once more. Just as he was about to open it he heard a small whimper from where Grell was standing. "Is something wrong?" he called, pulling back.

"I...I think you should come over here..." Grell said quietly.

"What is it?" ssked William making his way over.

"The...The..." Grell gulped. "I don't think we'll be going anywhere any time soon..."

"Why?"

"Push that horse over..." said Grell, turning away and pointing at the nearest horse.

"What?"

"J-Just kick it over or something..."

William approached the horse and gave it a moderate kick. As did, he found that the entire underside of the horse had been eaten away. Maggots covered it everywhere and he could see right through to the horse's spine. He quickly turned away and vomitted into the undergrowth and Grell pushed the horse back over to avoid looking at it. "WHAT THE HELL?!" screamed William, wiping his mouth.

"I'd like to know the same thing- Oh My God!"

"What?"

"Ronald! And Alan and Eric!" screamed Grell.

"Damn it!!" William shouted, and they quickly ran over to the carriage and yanked the door open to find the other three still inside.

 

TO BE CONTINUED~


	5. Chapter Five

"Oh God, please let them be OK..." Grell begged as William opened the door of the now very broken carriage to find the others inside. Straight away, Grell could see that if they had gone just a little further, Eric would have been impaled by a branch from the tree. As it was, the point of the branch was only inches from his chest. During the collision, Alan had fallen from the seat and was now lying on the floor of the carriage, wedged between the two rows seats and rather horrifically covered in blood because of his leg. Ronald on the other hand seemed to have fared relatively okay, and was merely sitting slumped in the far corner, next to Eric. There was no telling if his face would be OK however, as they couldn't see it form where they stood; for all they knew he could have had no eyes or something.

William straight away snapped the branch and threw it away before proceeding to start pulling everyone out, helped by Grell. Eventually, all three of them were lying on the ground in front of them. Ronald, thankfully, was seemingly unharmed and after checking that everyone was alive, Grell and William contemplated what they should do next.

"I think we should wait until they wake up before trying to move them again," Grell said. "At least that way they'll be able to tell us where it hurts."

"But if they're asleep, they won't have to worry about the pain," William said. "At least this way we can move them quickly-"

"And what if we cause more damage?!" Grell cried. "A-And besides, where do you even intend to move them in the first place?"

"We'll carry them if we have to; we can't leave them on the ground with all these maggots wandering around-"

"William, wait a minute," Grell suddenly said in a tone so serious it even surprised himself. "Look at Alan's leg." He pointed at what was previously Alan's injured right leg.

"What about it?" Asked William.

"Can't you see? The cut is nearly gone!" said Grell frantically.

"Well isn't that good?"

"Under normal circumstances yes, but doesn't it seem a bit strange to you? Your head as well, the wound is completely gone!" Grell said, rubbing William's head and getting his hand slapped away.

"We're reapers, we're meant to heal fast..." said William, but he too could tell that something was not right. 

"Even if that's the case, it doesn't explain..." 

"...How a horse could be completely eaten through within a couple of hours...." realised William. The two of them looked at each other in panic, unsure of what to do when Ronald suddenly gasped and sat up.

"Ronald!" they both cried happily, William losing his usually serious composure for a moment to go over and hug the blond reaper, something which surprised both Grell and Ronald immensely.

"Uh... N-Nice to see you too?" Ronald said, unsure of what to do. William quickly realised what he was doing and proceeded to stand up and adjust his glasses before clearing his throat.

"Ah. Yes. What I mean is, I'm glad that you're awake and not...dead?" William stopped speaking as the other two stared at him and he eventually just gave up and told them he was going to check on the other two.

"What happened?" Ronald asked Grell, as he stood up and stretched a little. Grell was glad to see that he was relatively unscathed by the accident and seemed to be in a good position to walk if needed.

"I'm not entirely sure myself..." Grell said, looking around. He was still trying to work out how the horses had gotten eaten so quickly and why Alan's wound had all but disappeared. Could it be that they'd been passed out for more than just a few hours? It was certainly looking that way, especially since it now seemed to be the middle of the day. From the dryness of his mouth, he could also tell that he hadn't had any water for quite some time. The intense heat of the forest was not helping. Grell took a quick moment to look at his surroundings. The forest had a strange yellow or orange hue to it and gave the impression of an old photograph but more vivid. There was little colour except brown and yellow, and the grass beneath his feet seemed to be dead. The air around him was extremely hot and stuffy, typical for a day in the height of summer, and he was finding it a little hard to breathe. Eventually, he focussed his attention on Ronald again, who was now helping a newly awakened Alan to sit up while William slapped Eric's face a bit to try and make him regain consciousness. There was something definitely wrong with this forest.

While William and Ronald were helping the others to wake up properly and William attempted to explain the situation, Grell made his way inside the carriage to see if any of their food and water supplies has survived. Although as supernatural beings they rarely needed to eat or drink, it was helpful to have some every now and then and Grell was feeling particularly thirsty right now. Being careful to avoid stray branches and holes, he retrieved the box of supplies and was disappointed to find it empty, save for a few empty bottles which had previously contained water. Considering the heat, he quickly came to the conclusion that it must have evaporated somehow, but placed the bottles inside his coat pockets anyway in case they came across a source of water.

Outside, everyone was now standing, although Alan was having to rely heavily on the support of the others because his leg was still sore despite the 'miracle healing'. They were trying to work out what they should do. "I think our top priority should be to bind Alan's leg up somehow" someone was saying. "The cut may have healed, but it still seems broken."

"I agree," William said. "If we can adjust the bone now, it won't be as hard to fix it when we get home, and it might also help him to walk easier."

"Please just do something, it really hurts!" cried Alan with tears in his eyes as he tried to adjust his leg.

Grell looked around and found a long branch lying on the ground. "Um... What if you use this as a walking stick or something?" He asked, handing it to Alan who took it gratefully. "As for your leg.... I'm sure I learnt somewhere once that if you put two bits of wood either side it would keep it straight or something...."

"That's not a bad idea..." Eric said, staring to look around for some flat-ish pieces of wood that could be used.

A few hours later, Alan now had what seemed like half a tree tied to his leg with the help of both Eric and Ronald's tie as well as his own, and was using William's scythe as a walking stick because all the branches he used kept snapping. Having calmed down a little, the five of them were now walking along an overgrown dusty path in an attempt to come to an exit somewhere, preferably an edge of the forest near a road. They had tried following what they thought might have been the path of the carriage but had to change their plan when they came across a dead end. Right now, the path they were walking on dipped down on either side into ditches that were sheltered by bushes. Each of them had by now repeatedly checked themselves over for any sign of maggots or infection and were relieved to find that they were all okay. One of their main goals right now was also to find water and they were keeping a lookout for any signs of it but finding none.

As they walked, Grell couldn't help but notice how William seemed to stagger every now and then and seemed to be sweating a lot more than the others, but when he was asked about it, he just said he was fine and they should all quit staring at him. All too soon, the five of them had to sit down to rest, still surrounded by banks and ditches on either side. "I...I don't think I can walk anymore..." Alan said, rubbing his leg which he stretched out in front of him.

"It's OK, just a bit further..." Eric said, not very confidently. To tell the truth, none of them had the slightest idea how much further it might be and it almost seemed like they were walking in circles, or at least down an extremely long path.

William coughed a little. "We better find water soon or-" his sentence was cut off by the faint sound of rumbling close by.

"What's that?" Grell asked, looking towards the source of the sound. As they all looked towards the sound, they could see a cloud of dust forming and were able to make out the shape of a carriage.

"It's a carriage!" cried Alan happily starting to wave his hands about. "Maybe they can get us out of here!"

"I don't think that's a good idea..." William said suddenly, standing up and forcing Alan to stop waving.

"What are you talking abou-"began Grell before he realised why William was so concerned. The coach drivers had no eyes, and their mouths were split into an ominous sharp-toothed grin that stretched far wider than any natural smile would. He too now stood up, swiftly followed by the others.

"What is that?!" cried Eric as he saw the bleeding, gaping holes where there should have been eyeballs. "Where are their eyes?!"

"That's not the worst part," William said as he looked closer at the impending monsters. "Look at their hair, their clothes." As they all looked, they realised in horror that the drivers were the spitting image of William and Grell, save for the terrible deformities, and as it got closer they could see leaning out of the windows, with similar horrific features, monsters that looked like Eric and Alan. Cackling laughter filled the air as it drew closer and the five reapers suddenly found themselves running as it started to chase them. Despite Alan's protests, Eric has slung him over his shoulder and was struggling to keep up with the others as they ran along the endless path.

"It's catching up to us!" cried Grell, trying to run as fast as he could. As it got closer, it seemed that there was no choice but to jump to the side and into one of the ditches in order to escape it.

"Roll into the ditches!" shouted William to the others as he began to feel the breath of the horses, which they had now discovered were rotting and half eaten away, on the back of his neck. Without thinking he grabbed the nearest person and threw himself over the side into one of the ditches before rolling down it and blacking out.

 

TO BE CONTINUED~


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING - Slightly gory

William opened his eyes to find Grell kneeling next to him, slapping his cheek repeatedly in what seemed to be an attempt to get him to wake up. "Ah, you're awake!" cried Grell, slapping William's cheek once more just to be sure.

"What on earth do you think you are doing?!" asked William angrily, hitting the redhead's hand away and sitting up. His head was throbbing painfully and the fast movement made him dizzy as he tried to stop himself from wobbling. "Ow..."

"What's wrong?" asked Grell worriedly.

"Nothing..." replied William, trying to take in his surroundings. The ground beneath him felt soft and he found that he was sitting on a pile of somewhat marshy leaves. "Where-" he began, and started to turn around only to be stopped by Grell grabbing his shoulders.

"Please don't turn around..." Grell said quietly.

"Why not?" Asked William, still trying to stop everything around him from spinning.

"B-Because! Uh... j-just look at me instead!" said Grell, looking behind William and with a panicked look in his eyes.

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Just please don't turn round! Let's focus on getting out of this ditch OK? I'm sure the others must be looking for us right now..." said Grell, still with fear in his voice. Images of eyeless monsters and the sounds of laughter filled William's mind as he tried to remember what had happened. Eventually he remembered that he had jumped into a ditch to avoid the grotesque creatures, grabbing the person nearest to him, which - just his luck, he thought - happened to be Grell.

"Why do I always end up with you of all people...." William was muttering as Grell, finally trusting him enough not to turn around started try and climb out of the surprisingly deep ditch.

"I've been trying to climb out of here for at least fifteen minutes..." Grell was saying, ignoring the rather insulting comment. "It's a lot deeper than I thought it would be; the others have probably already wandered off trying to find another route... I wanted to as well, but I couldn't just leave you lying here, not to mention..." Grell trailed off, looking behind William again and suddenly trying to change the topic. "Ah s-so how's your head?"

"Why do you keep looking behind me like that?" asked William suspiciously. As he breathed in, he could smell a strange aroma in the air, something familiar, yet he couldn't quite place it... the more he sniffed, the more he realised the place stank, but of what?

"What are you talking about silly? Ahaha..." Grell laughed nervously, still looking flustered.

"Don't treat me like I'm some sort of fool Sutcliff, you keep looking behind me and I want to know why," William said angrily.

"I...Umm... I'm staring at you! Yes, I keep looking at you, you lovely handsome man~ Ha..." Grell stuttered, trying to come up with an excuse.

"Right that's it, I'm turning around," William said, suddenly turning around before Grell could stop him.

"William, no!" screamed Grell, but too late.

***

In the ditch opposite, Ronald, Eric and Alan were all sitting up after waking up face down in the dirt. Eric was adjusting Alan's leg which had become untied slightly, and Ronald was sitting perhaps almost too calmly looking up at the sky.

"I wonder if William and Grell are OK?" Alan was asking, inbetween wincing at the pain in his leg. He was starting to feel more annoyed about his injury rather than afraid though, as he realised that he was being a burden to others. No matter what he did, his leg was just making this already difficult situation harder to deal with.

"I'm sure they will be," Ronald said. "I mean, they did survive a carriage crash after all."

"Yeah, but so did we..." Alan replied.

"Well to be fair, those two were at the front, so I guess they must be pretty tough at least," Eric theorised. He finished fixing Alan's leg before looking up at the sky. "Now then, any idea how we get out of this ditch?"

"To be honest, our best bet would probably be to just walk along the forest floor and see if we can find a less steep way back up there," Ronald suggested, looking behind them at the flat ground which was surprisingly clear of the usual debris one would expect to see in a forest and was instead just covered with a thin layer of dead grass.

"But how would the other two find us?" Alan asked, standing up and using Eric, rather unwillingly, for support. It embarrassed him to have to rely on others all the time, but what could he do?

"Well it's likely that they're thinking the same thing, so we're bound to meet up eventually," Ronald said, also standing. "Besides, even if they just wait where they are, we can just go to them."

"What do you suppose those monsters were earlier?" Eric asked suddenly, remembering why they were in this ditch in the first place. "I mean, they had our faces... It was scary..."

"Probably best not to think about it," Ronald said bluntly.

"Come to think of it, I didn't see one of you, Ronald," Alan said, thinking back to the terrifying eyeless faces he had seen. Everyone had been there except Ronald.

"It was probably inside the carriage," Ronald replied. "Now come on, let's go before it gets dark."

"I don't think it's ever going to get dark here," said Eric, looking up. "The time and weather seems to be exactly the same as it was when we woke up..."

"Can we just get going?!" Ronald shouted, much to the other two's surprise; it was a rare sight to see Ronald so angry.

"Fine, fine, let's go..." Eric agreed, starting to walk and half dragging poor Alan behind him.

***

Back on the other side, William was staring at disbelief in what was in front of him, unable to move or even speak. "I told you not to turn around!" cried Grell, trying to make William turn back. Eventually, the dark haired reaper unfroze and ran over to a corner to get sick again. Grell looked back at what William had just seen. Corpses. And lots of them, both animal and human. They were grouped together and formed a large mushy pile of blood and bone that stretched out as far as they could see. Worms crawling amongst the gore made the mound seem eerily alive, causing it to pulse up and down. Suddenly William knew where he recognised the smell from - it was the smell of blood, and death. Grell tore his eyes away from the gruesome field of red and made his way over to William, who was trying to stop himself from retching again. 

"W-What..." William stuttered before puking once more.

"I tried to warn you... Why do you never listen...?" Grell said quietly, rubbing William's back. Every time he breathed in he could smell rotting flesh, reminding him of the carnage that lay just a few paces away from them.

"What... are we... going to do?" William asked, tears forming in his eyes as a result of all the heaving. He made his way back to where he had woken up and sat with his back to the vile sight.

"The only thing we can do is try to get back up there..." Grell said, pointing towards the top of the ditch. "...or walk through that," he said, pointing behind William.

"I think I'd rather die," William said, trying to erase the bloodied image from his mind and failing. As a reaper, he should be used to this, he thought, but for some reason this was just too much. The intense heat of the forest and the injury to his head weren't helping either.

"There are human shaped corpses in there..." Grell whispered, still staring behind William. "What do you think happened?"

"Probably the same that's going to happen to us... we'll remain trapped here and die."

"B-But... We have the other three to rely on!" said Grell, with uncertainty in his voice. "Maybe these people were alone!"

"And if the other three are in a similar situation?" asked William, trying to think of all the possibilities but only making himself and Grell more afraid.

"Th-Then...." Grell thought for a moment. "Then we have each other?"

"How very romantic..." William said sarcastically. "So what if there's two of us? This place gets two bodies instead of one."

"Can't you at least try and give me a boost up the side of the ditch? If I stood on you or something, I might be able to grab onto the edge..." Grell asked.

William thought for a moment before sighing. "Well I suppose anything is worth a try..." he said and made his way over to Grell.

 

After half an hour of trying, William and Grell were still no closer to escaping and William was now very much exhausted after trying to lift Grell for so long. "I could really use some water..." he rasped, dropping Grell and closing his eyes as he sat down.

"I know, Will, I'm sorry..." Grell said, sitting up.

"I-It's William..." William said, serious despite the situation.

"Will!" Grell said suddenly.

"William."

"...William, look!" shouted Grell, causing William to open his eyes. He looked over to what Grell was pointing at and was about to ask what it was when he stopped short.

"The bodies..." he said eventually, eyes wide. "They're..."

"They're gone!" cried Grell. "Everything is just gone! It's..."

"It's just a normal forest floor...." finished William, looking at the grassy earth that had been covered in blood not so long ago.

 

TO BE CONTINUED~


	7. Chapter Seven

"How can it just be gone?!" Grell cried, blinking rapidly in case his eyes were playing tricks on him. "I-I mean... What..."

"Are we even in the same area of the woods?" William asked. "Maybe we moved somehow while trying to climb up..."

"I don't think so," Grell said, moving forward to inspect the ground more closely. Slowly, he reached out with his right foot and tapped the ground softly. The grass crunched beneath his feet a little, but other than that there was nothing strange or unusual about it. "Could it be... that we imagined the whole thing?" Grell asked, stepping back again.

"But I saw it too," said William, moving to stand next to Grell. "Hallucinations are mean to affect only the individual are they not?"

"But... Well, it's so hot here and this forest is clearly not normal to begin with; maybe there's something in the air? Or perhaps we just hit our heads really hard," Grell theorised.

"What if..." William trailed off for a moment, deep in thought before continuing. "What if we're still lying unconscious in that carriage and this is all a dream?"

"H-Hey! Don't say scary stuff like that, I'm already worried enough!" Grell said with panic in his voice. "Besides, there's no way that could be the case, we wouldn't be dreaming of each other!" He paused. "Well OK, I might be dreaming about you but-" Grell was cut off by a sharp slap to the back of his head.

"Try to be serious about this will you?" William asked angrily. "How am I to know you're not just a figment of my imagination?"

"I could say the same about you!" Grell said angrily. "You can't just go around accusing people of not existing!"

"Well dream or not, this is getting us nowhere..." William sighed, and wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Maybe we just really need some water..."

"And where are we meant to get it?" Grell asked, still slightly irritated.

"How am I supposed to know?" William retorted, scowling at the other reaper. "I say that now that the ground is clear, we should try make our way through here after all. Who knows, maybe we'll find a way back up there," he said, pointing to the road above them. 

"Fine," Grell said huffily. "Let's go then." And with that, the two of them started to walk through the once bloodied forest floor.

***

Elsewhere, Ronald, Eric and Alan were struggling to get through some particularly tough weeds which kept getting wrapped around their ankles and causing them to trip. "Whose bright idea was it to go this way?" Eric asked sarcastically, trying to stop Alan from falling over and getting lost in the undergrowth.

"Don't look at me, I told you to turn left!" replied Ronald angrily. "I mean seriously, how hard is it to stick to a simple path?!"

"Please stop shouting Ronald..." Alan said quietly. "This is already hard enough as it is..."

"I can't help it!" Ronald shouted, still trying to pull his legs free. "This place is so damn annoying! Everywhere we turn it's just green, green, green, and occasionally brown! I'm going crazy here!"

"Well it IS a forest!" Eric said. "I mean, what the heck are you expecting, a funfair? A fast food restaurant? It's a FOREST!"

"Speaking of food, is anyone else really hungry?" Alan asked.

"Now that you mention it, yeah I guess I am..." Eric agreed.

"Me too..." replied Ronald. "Although isn't that a little strange? I mean, do we normally eat?"

"That's weird..." Eric said suddenly. "I... can't remember."

"Me neither..." said Alan. "But I do know that I'm hungry right now."

"Where could we possibly find food though?" asked Eric, looking around.

"Well like you said Eric, it's a forest. Look," Ronald said, pointing to a small clearing ahead of them. Through a small gap in the trees a blackberry bush was clearly visible, dark, ripe fruit hanging from its small branches. With something to aim for, the three reapers quickly made their way over and surrounded the bush.

"Do you think it's safe to eat?" Alan asked, looking closely at the fruit.

"I don't see why not," replied Ronald, picking off one of the berries and popping it into his mouth.

"H-Hey, wait a minute!" protested Eric. "What if it's poisonous?!"

"They're only black berries," Ronald said, eating more. "Besides, it'll give us some liquid too!" 

Eric just remained silent as he watched Ronald grab a handful and shove them into his mouth. After five minutes and no apparent ill effects, Eric finally reached out and ate one himself, followed shortly after by Alan. After the first few, the two reapers began to relax a little and joined Ronald in eating as much as they could.

About an hour later, after the three of them were full, they collected some of the berries in an empty water bottle that Ronald conveniently had with them, and decided to look for somewhere to rest. Eric, for some reason, had gotten eerily quiet not long after they finished eating and kept staring at the ground as they walked, treading lightly and walking almost on tiptoe. Eventually Alan noticed and asked what was wrong.

"Nothing..." Eric replied, still staring at the ground. Eventually the three of them came to another clearing, although this one was smaller and has logs strewn about, one of which Ronald sat on. "Uh, hey you know, maybe we should keep moving after all..." Eric said hesitantly.

"What for?" Ronald asked. "It was your idea to find somewhere to rest."

"Yeah I know, but maybe somewhere like a cave would be better? You know, out of the heat, off the ground..." Eric said.

"And we're supposed to find a cave where exactly?" asked Ronald. "What's your weird obsession with the ground all of a sudden anyway?"

"It's nothing... well OK, maybe it is... I..."

"Get to the point," Ronald said, quite rudely.

"Well OK... do you remember the horses?"

***

On the other side of the forest, William and Grell had now been walking for a long time and were beginning to get tired.

"My legs are starting to hurt a little..." Grell said as they walked along the somewhat marshy forest floor.

"Do you want to rest for a while?" asked William, pausing to turn round and see what the problem was.

"I wouldn't mind it..." Grell replied, finding a branch and perching himself on it. "Aren't you even a little tired?"

"I am, but I wasn't planning to act on it. Complaining is, in my opinion, a sign of weakness, and that is something we really don't need in the current situation."

"You know, it's always amazed me how you can stay so professional under any circumstances..."

"...It's my way of coping with things." William adjusted his glasses and moved to sit on the branch also, but suddenly stopped halfway. 

"But-"

"Are you done resting yet?" William asked suddenly. "I have a feeling that staying still is a bad idea..."

"What makes you say that?" asked Grell, still sitting down and rubbing his legs which were now starting to itch.

"I just do..." William looked around. "Doesn't it strike you as odd that it isn't getting any darker or cooler, despite the fact that we have been walking for what seems like hours?"

"Now that you mention is, I guess it is a bit strange..."

"Mmm..." William removed his blazer and tie, which were making him feel a little too warm for comfort, and tied them around his waist. He had tried to maintain his professional uniform for as long as he could, but he just couldn't take the heat any more. "I really think we should keep moving."

"What about the others? Maybe if we stay still, they'll be able to find us?"

"And what if they're thinking the same thing? That way, none of us will move and we'll never find each other. At least if we all move, we're bound to meet up eventually."

"I suppose you have a good point...." agreed Grell, who felt his legs beginning to burn beneath the material of his trousers.

"What's wrong with your legs?" William asked, noticing how much Grell was scratching them.

"I...I don't know....They just really hurt.... It feels like they're on fire or something...."

"Damn it... I told you we should keep moving... Stand up!" yelled William, who grabbed Grell and forced him to start walking again.

"But....But it hurts!!"

"I don't care, just move!" William shouted, shoving him in front of him and making him stumble forward.

"W-William what's wrong?"

William looked at the red haired reaper for a moment trying to work out how he should explain his suspicions. Eventually he sighed and, still shoving Grell in front of him, asked a question instead. "Do you remember how the horses were eaten away?"

"Of course I do! It was one of the most awful things I've ever seen in my life!" Grell said, gritting his teeth at the pain in his legs. 

"Well don't you find it a bit...strange, that they were eaten through so quickly?"

"Normally I guess, but considering how hot it is here and the fact that we may have been out for a good few hours... I dunno..." Grell replied, shivering at the image of the horses that appeared in his mind.

"But still.... there's just something... Ah, how do I put it..." William stopped talking for a moment trying to piece together what his mind was telling him. The intense heat was making it hard to think and he still felt dizzy from both his head injury and dehydration. "Well first of all, I think we should find a way to get off the ground."

 

**

 

Elsewhere in the forest, a similar conversation was taking place. "It's the ground I'm telling you, the ground!" Eric was screaming at Ronald who was still sitting, exhausted. "For god sake, won't you listen? If you don't get up now and keep moving-"

"What, I'll get eaten by maggots?" Ronald laughed stretching his legs.

"Ronald, please! Think about this logically, look what happened to the horses!"

"You mean the horses that were lying dead for hours? Eric, I'm not dead, why would maggots eat me?"

"Please.... Look, I just- I have a bad feeling about all of this ok? It's not safe I tell you, we have to keep moving!" Eric looked as though he were about to cry as he started trying to get Ronald to move. "Come on... As long as we keep moving, we'll be safe, I know we will!"

"Well you know what I think?" Ronald said, slapping Eric's arm away. "I think we should just stay put and wait for the others to find us. If we keep walking, we may never meet up again, and I tell you now there is NO way I'm leaving without William and Grell."

"Of course we wouldn't leave without them! I wouldn't even consider it, but Ronald, if we don't keep moving, there'll be none of us left to find!"

"...I believe you Eric," Alan said, finally joining in the conversation. "But mostly because you're helping me to walk and if I said I didn't, you might drop me..."

"Drop you? What kind of person do you think I am?!"

"A damn crazy one," Ronald said, standing up. "But if it REALLY means that much to you, then I guess we better keep moving. How's your leg?" he asked Alan, who was still standing on the toes of his right leg.

"Painful," replied Alan, wincing at the thought of it. "As soon as we get out of here, I think I'd better get it looked at..."

"Probably a good idea," agreed Eric, before the three of them started walking again, while Eric continued to watch the ground.

TO BE CONTINUED~


	8. Chapter Eight

William was still pushing Grell along in front of him while he tried to explain his theory. The red haired reaper had stopped listening however and was instead crying out in pain with every step he took, as he could feel his legs burning more and more. Eventually, he could stand it no longer and dug his heels into the ground to stop himself from moving any further.

"Grell-" 

"While... I'd usually.... be happy that... you used my first name..." Grell said through gritted teeth, "this... pain... is so bad... I don't think I... can go any... further..."

"I know it's bad, I can see it in your expression; but we have to get you off the ground or it's only going to get worse."

"Damn it, Will there's trees everywhere!" screamed Grell suddenly. "Just climb one if you're so desperate!"

"And how am I meant to get you up there with me?!" asked William, looking up and seeing that they had fortunately stopped at a place with relatively low branches. 

"I don't know! Just... do SOMETHING!" yelled Grell. 

William thought for a moment before nodding. "I suppose it could work. Are you able to stand for a few minutes?"

"Yes..." gasped Grell in pain. William nodded again and approached the tree. Instinctively he reached for his scythe to aid him, before remembering that he had given it to Alan for support. Cursing slightly, he adjusted his glasses and began to climb the tree by hand, making sure to aim for a branch that was both sturdy enough to support them both, yet also low enough to allow Grell to be helped up. Eventually he managed to find one and, lying on his stomach, reached his hand down towards Grell. 

"Alright Sutcliff, grab hold and try to climb up here. And if you tell anyone we held hands, I'll kill you myself." Although the last part was meant as an attempted joke to cheer Grell up, it failed to do so, as Grell merely nodded with tears in his eyes and started to try and climb up, eventually making it into the branch. William moved to the left a little to allow Grell to sit next to him and lean against the trunk of the tree. "Right, first things first, let's see what on earth is happening to your legs," William said, putting aside any embarrassment or slight hatred of Grell in order to roll up the legs of Grell's trousers. He was surprised to find that the material was eerily stuck to the other reaper's leg and a sense of dread started to fill his mind as he tried to work to why this could be. Grell noticed the fear in William's expression and instantly started to panic himself.

"...What is it?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

"I wish I knew..." Replied William. "I think I'm just going to have to do this quickly and see what happens," he said, and with that he quickly peeled back the material.

***

On the other side of the forest, Eric, Alan and Ronald were also looking for a way to get off the ground, after an extremely panicked Eric had started screaming at them that there was something strange about it. As they were walking, Alan suddenly heard a sound in the distance. It took him a moment to realise what it was, but when he figured it out, he suddenly cried happily, "Water! I can hear running water! And I think it's nearby!" The three reapers looked at each other in surprise before making their way over to the source of the sound. "I can't wait!" Alan said. "I'll be able to clean my leg, we'll all be able to get a drink, and it'll be the most amazing thing ever!"

"Calm down!" Eric said, although he too was very happy at the thought of water. "It might only be a very small pool, or not much at all."

"It sounds like a lot!" Ronald called back happily, running ahead of them. Eventually, the three of them came to a cluster of bushes, and behind it, they could hear the gushing of water. "Alright, let's go!" Ronald said, pushing his way through. The other two waited, expecting to hear a splash and when they didn't hear one, they made their way through much more cautiously that they would have a moment ago.

"Hey Ronald..." Eric started. "Is it only a small stream after all-" Eric stopped talking when he saw why Ronald, who was standing very still at the edge of the stream, had not jumped in. Where there should have been water, there instead flowed a dark red liquid which carried a familiar scent with it that Alan instantly recognised. 

"Blood," they all said at once, before stepping back. Although he tried to resist it, Alan could feel tears starting to form in his eyes as he turned away from the awful image in front of him.

"D-Damn it... I was so sure..." he cried, feeling the dryness in his mouth that had been anticipating a much needed drink grow stronger. "Why? Why is this happening?"

"I don't know..." replied Eric, trying to work out what they should do next.

"I don't know what you're so worried about," Ronald said suddenly, causing the other two to look at him. They watched in horror as Ronald made his way over to the river of blood and cupped his hands before dipping them in and bringing them up filled with the red liquid.

"Ronald, what are you... NO!" Eric yelled as Ronald brought the liquid to his lips and took a big gulp before smiling at them.

"It's just water!" he said happily, before going back for more.

"Are you crazy?!" Eric asked. "Alan, say something-"

"I think he might be right..." Alan said suddenly, limping over and looking at the liquid. The more he looked at it, the paler it seemed to be getting, until it barely resembled blood at all. Cautiously, he knelt down next to Ronald, who was filling yet another bottle that he conveniently had with him and drinking from it. "It's the forest..." said Alan quietly. "I-I think it's playing tricks with our eyes..."

"That or it's the intense heat," Ronald said, gulping down more of the liquid. "Or maybe it was just the sun reflecting in the water? There's some red leaves round here, it could be shadows or something."

"You're sounding very calm about this..." Eric said to Ronald, also moving closer. "You say it so bluntly like you were expecting this..."

"I just don't see any point in panicking about stuff for ages," Ronald replied. "I mean, sure it was scary at first, but then I realised it was just an illusion and I got over it. Guess it took longer for your eyes to adjust."

Eric looked at the water and saw that it was indeed that - just water. Eventually he too, along with Alan, began to drink from it, and they ate a few of the berries that Ronald had saved. Eric began to notice that the more he ate and drank, the hungrier and thirstier he was beginning to feel, but he ignored it. After they had drunk enough, they finally plucked up the courage to go for a soak in the water too, knowing that the heat would dry their clothes afterwards. Alan sighed in relief as the cool water washed over his injured leg and the three of them sat, fully clothed, in the surprisingly wide and deep river for a while, appreciating the break from the heat. Ronald even managed to swim around a little, looking for some fish that they could potentially cook later if they could start a fire. While he was swimming, Alan took the rare chance to finally voice a niggling thought that had been going through his head for some time. 

"Does Ronald seem a little bit... off to you?" he asked Eric.

"How so?"

"Well you mentioned it yourself, how he seems to be so blunt about everything... I mean, I know he's trying to make light of a bad situation, but if you ask me, he seems almost TOO relaxed..." replied Alan.

"Maybe you're just over thinking things?" Eric theorised.

"Says Mister 'oh the ground is gonna eat me!'" mocked Alan. "That's another thing; he didn't take you seriously either. I know Ronald can be stubborn, but he seems almost TOO stubborn..."

"Alan, really-"

"And he's been initiating everything - he ate the berries first, he drank the water first... It's like he's trying to make everything seem safe when it isn't..."

"Oh come on, now you're just being paranoid," Eric said, slightly irritated. At that moment, Ronald returned from his short fish hunt and swam over.

"Hey guys, what's happening?" asked Ronald, who was empty handed having unfortunately caught no fish.

"Oh nothing, Alan was just being-" Eric was cut off by Alan stabbing a sharp stone into the side of his waist. "Ah-!"

"What?" asked Ronald, suspicious.

"A-Alan was just being...uh... Alan! Haha..." Eric replied, glaring at the brunette, who only glared back.

"You guys are weird..." Ronald said before swimming over to the riverbank. "I think we should get out of here now before it turns back to blood," he said, climbing out.

"WHAT?!" Alan and Eric cried simultaneously.

"You never know, it could happen!" winked Ronald. "Now come on, we'd better get moving since we're apparently not supposed to spend much time on the ground."

**

Back up the tree, William was staring in horror at the strange liquid that was seeping from various small holes in Grell's legs. When they'd first seen it, it had taken all they had not to get sick again, and they were still trying to hold it back as they tried to work out what to do. "William... Are my legs going to fall off?" Grell asked worriedly.

"D-Don't be foolish Sutcliff..." William replied, although he wasn't entirely sure himself. Eventually, he snapped off a small twig from and reached out to poke one of Grell's legs. It made a strange squelching noise and more of the yellow looking liquid emerged from the various holes that were dotted about everywhere.

"I'm scared..." whimpered Grell, wincing at the pain that the pressure had caused.

"Me too..." said William, feeling a cold sweat forming on his forehead. "It's times like this I really wish there was some water nearby..."

"I doubt it would do a lot..." said Grell. "Will... Do you think... Do you think maggots made those holes...?" he asked suddenly.

"Maggots?" asked William in disbelief.

"Well you were talking about them earlier... And I was standing still for a long time... And.... And...."

"It's OK, just calm down..." William said. "I think I know what we need to do." He gulped at the very thought of it but he knew there was no other way. He undid his tie from around his waist. "I'll need you to remove that ribbon from around your neck," he said. "And I hope you have something to wipe your hands on afterwards, because this could get quite messy..."

"W-What are you going to do!?" Grell whimpered .

"I don't really know yet, but it'll involve a lot of squeezing, so brace yourself."

***

Somewhere just outside the forest, Ronald started to stir. He tried to open his eyes but realised that something was stopping him from doing so. Rubbing his right eye, he managed to open it a little before realising that it was dried blood which had sealed it shut. Still with his left eye stuck closed, he tried sitting up, only to double over and vomit as a wave of dizziness overcame him. Eventually he managed to stand up and staggered over to a tree, which he clung to for support.

"What...happened?" he asked himself out loud, looking around and realising that it was still night-time, and that he had woken up in a ditch not far from the side of the road. As he slowly made his way up the side of the mound, he realised that he was also missing his right shoe and he made a point of looking out for it as he walked. Eventually he emerged at the side of the road, still missing his shoe, but now slightly more alert. Still with only one eye open, he made his way into the middle of the empty road and looked around. Dark silence stretched out on either side of him, and a thick layer of fog hovered over the road and the field beyond it. Behind him, he could feel a strange wind emerging from the woods that was surprisingly warm considering how cold his surroundings were. He wrapped his arms around himself as he stood shivering in the darkness, and tried to work out what had happened. The last thing he could remember was falling asleep in the carriage before waking up in the woods. Slowly, he started to walk along the road, looking out for any signs of the others. "William? Grell? Anyone?" he called out, starting to feel uncomfortable about the way his voice seemed to echo around him. 

As he was walking, he suddenly heard the sounds of hooves behind him and he turned suddenly, expecting to see their carriage, or at least someone making their way along the road. From where he stood, it appeared that William and Grell were sitting atop a carriage which was moving rapidly towards him, the horses hooves kicking up small clouds of dust.

"Guys--!" he began, but he was cut off as he saw the faces of the riders. While they had initially appeared to look like his friends, close up he could see that where their eyes should have been were instead large gaping holes, accompanied by maniacal grins that spread across their entire faces. Cackling laughter filled the air. As the vehicle came closer, Ronald turned and ran as fast as he could, almost falling over but managing to steady himself. Eventually, he could feel it approaching him until it almost touched the back of his legs, and he was forced to jump down into the ditch again to avoid being hit. To his relief, the carriage kept going and he was able to crawl onto the road again.

Still breathing heavily from the shock, he turned and started to run in the direction the coach had come from, hoping to find help and possibly the others. After running for a long time, he realised that he had ended up in a place which looked similar to where he had started, before discovering in horror that he must have run in a circle. "Impossible!" he cried out to himself, before finally sitting down in the middle of the road and trying to work to what he should do next.

TO BE CONTINUED~


	9. Chapter Nine

In the tree, William had succeeded in tying his tie just above the knee of Grell's left leg, and Grell's ribbon above the right. Having removed their gloves, both reapers were now staring at the legs which had started to get slightly paler now that the blood circulation had been restricted slightly. 

"M-Maybe this would be easier with the gloves..." Grell whimpered.

"Those gloves might be important later on..." William replied, trying to keep calm. "We can't afford to get them dirty."

"Damn it... Why do you have to be so professional about everything..." Grell mumbled, with tears forming in his eyes again as he looked at his legs.

"Look, let's just get this over with, alright?" William said, taking a deep breath. They had managed to peel back Grell's trousers enough to reveal his shins and the skin just slightly above his knee. There were various small holes in his legs, from which a strange liquid seemed to be pouring. "I-It's obvious you've got some sort of infection... S-So... We'll just have to get it out..." William stuttered.

"Is it me or do you actually sound nervous for once?" Grell asked, surprised.

"Pick a leg..." said William, ignoring him. 

"Why?"

"Damn it Sutcliff!" he shouted; the awful sight in front of him, combined with the intense heat all around him and the injury to his head from earlier were actually starting to make him panic slightly, for what felt like the first time in a long while. "Fine then..." he said, suddenly reaching out and wrapping his right hand around Grell's left ankle.

"W-What are you doing?!" cried Grell, as William suddenly grabbed just above his knee and twisted the skin of his leg in a Chinese-burn sort of manner. Grell squeezed his eyes shut and let out a cry of pain as the skin tightened, squeezing out a lot of the awful liquid in the process. William continued to do so, fighting not to get sick, until he was sure that all of the liquid had escaped the leg. Pausing for a moment, he looked closer and it took all that he had not to faint from horror as he saw the small white creatures inside the holes.

"M-M....Ma...."

"What is it Will?!" Grell asked, finally opening his eyes to find his left leg much thinner looking but somewhat shiny for some reason, with William holding onto it, his face pale. Grell had only to look down to realise what William has just been trying to say. "Oh... Oh my..."

"They're in your legs after all... Seems you were right..." William said quietly, still retching.

Grell started crying as he looked at his two legs in front of him. "I-I have maggots in my legs?!"

***

Elsewhere, Eric, Alan and Ronald were looking for somewhere to rest, preferably a cave of some sort. Alan was still looking at Ronald suspiciously while continuing to limp because of his leg; the water had helped slightly, but not enough for him to be able to walk on his own. Ronald just breezed ahead in front, arms behind his head and whistling a strangely haunting tune. After a while, it was starting to creep Alan out a little.

"What's that tune you're whistling?" he asked Ronald suddenly, causing the blond reaper to stop and turn to face him. 

"Just some strange melody I heard somewhere," he replied, smiling. "Are you alright? Need any help or anything?"

"No thank you, I'm perfectly fine here with Eric..." Alan said, looking away from Ronald's almost too intense stare. 

"Alright, suit yourself~" Ronald replied before turning back around and starting to walk again. Alan just stared at the back of his head for a while, before finally telling Eric to keep walking.

"What's gotten into you?" Eric whispered to Alan, making sure Ronald couldn't hear.

"I already told you... Something seems weird about Ronald."

"Maybe he's thinking the same about us! After all, these aren't exactly normal circumstances; we're bound to act a bit differently to usual..." Eric said, trailing off slightly. Alan's comments were starting to make even him worry now.

"What are you two talking about back there?" Ronald called behind him, half turning.

"Alan's just-" Eric began, before being stopped by Alan once again by having his foot stamped on.

"Damn it Eric, why do you answer him every time? Learn some secrecy!" Alan growled angrily.

"H-Hey! It's not like I _wanted_ to answer him! It just sort of...slipped out." Eric replied, suddenly realising that he had, indeed, not intended to answer Ronald. "That's weird... It's like my mouth spoke by itself or something..."

"See, it's not just me acting weird!" Ronald said, stopping again and facing them. "I can hear you, you know, I'm not an idiot." Eric and Alan looked at each other worriedly. It seemed Ronald had overheard their conversation after all. "I don't much appreciate being talked about behind my back," Ronald said, still strangely blunt and emotionless; his sentences had been ending rather sharply lately, like each one was a statement rather than a comment or about his thoughts or feelings.

"Sorry..." mumbled Eric and Alan, looking down in embarrassment at being overheard. 

"It's OK," replied Ronald. "Just don't let it happen again or I might have to shut you up, OK?"

"I'm sorry, what?" asked Eric, taken aback by the mildly threatening tone that Ronald has used. He hadn't imagined it had he? The blond reaper was smiling at him, yet there seemed to be a dangerous look in his eye... Maybe Alan was right after all, there definitely seemed to be something wrong here.

"I'm just kidding~" Ronald laughed much too cheerily. "Just don't talk about me behind my back..." he lowered his glasses onto the bridge of his nose then and glared at Alan and Eric over the top of the frames "...OK?" he concluded, before pushing has glasses back up and skipping off ahead, leaving the other two both confused and worried.

 

**

 

"Just make the pain stop!!!" Grell was screaming as William continued to squeeze at his legs. He had given him Grell branch to bite down on before deciding to just do both legs himself since Grell seemed too traumatised, but the pain had caused him to drop the branch long ago.

"Just... a little... longer OK?" William replied, feeling dizzy from both the sight in front of him and having gotten sick three times now. "And please keep the noise down... People might hear us and get the wrong idea..."

"Who the hell is going to hear us in the middle of a forest?!" asked Grell angrily.

"You'd be surprised..." replied William, finally straightening up. "I...I think it's over now." He looked down at Grell's legs which were now, somewhat ironically, bright red from both the squeezing and the blood that had eventually flowed from them. William looked down at his hands which were almost unrecognisable under the vile liquid that covered them and quickly grabbed some leaves to wipe them with. "I'm going to climb a bit higher to look for some water OK?" William said, poking Grell to make sure that he was still conscious.

"I...In a tree?" asked Grell, slightly delirious.

"Not IN the tree you fool, I'm going to see if I can spot any further away. We really need it right now..." he replied, sighing.

"Oh... Also, William?"

"Yes?"

"I'm hungry... I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be, but I am..."

"Of course you're meant to be hungry; we eat all the time... Don't we?" William questioned, suddenly realising that he couldn't remember much before coming to the forest. "...That's strange... I feel like I'm forgetting something..."

"What about food?" groaned Grell, with his eyes closed; he was close to fainting after everything that had happened and his legs were still stinging. William just stared off into space for a moment, trying to figure out what he should be doing before suddenly turning back to Grell. 

"Ah yes, food... I'll look for that too. It's really hot here actually; I think it might be best if you remove that thick coat of yours before you make yourself more dehydrated..." he waited for a response before realising that Grell had either fallen asleep or fainted. Sighing, he released that he wouldn't be able to remove the other man's coat without causing him to fall from the tree, so he settled with having to unbutton the first few buttons on Grell's shirt. "That'll hopefully cool him down at least..." he mumbled to himself, before starting to climb the tree, wiping his hands on the bark in the process.

***

Outside the forest, the real Ronald had been sitting in the middle of the road for what felt like a very long time. Every now and then he looked up to see if he could detect any daylight in the distance, only to be met by darkness and yet more fog. It seemed no matter how long he sat here, it wasn't going to get any lighter or warmer. Standing, he decided to once more search for his shoe, thinking it might be a good idea to try and go a little further into the forest and see if he could find any trace of the others. 

After searching and still failing to find his shoe, he spat on his hand and finally cleared the rest of the blood away from his eyes. He was lucky his glasses hadn't been broken, or he might have been in trouble. Sniffing the air, he managed to detect a faint scent coming from further in the forest; something which was strangely sweet yet unpleasant at the same time... Looking behind him and back towards the road one more time, he started to walk through the darkness cautiously, making sure not to trip and fall over any branches, or into any concealed holes. As he walked, he could feel the air around him getting warmer, and he finally managed to stop shivering, even loosening his tie a little. Finally, he came to a parting in the trees that seemed much darker beyond it than the rest of the forest, almost like he had a solid black wall or a huge rock. Walking up to it, he reached out to touch it and discovered that it was extremely hot, almost burning his hand. He realised that it must have been this which was emitting the heat. It also felt strangely smooth... and soft... and the more he pressed on it, the more it seemed like it was moving.

"What the?!" Ronald cried as his hand suddenly went through it, swiftly followed by his arm. Fortunately, he managed to grab onto a nearby branch before he fell through completely. He looked at his right arm, which had been submerged in the strange thing before trying to wriggle his fingers a little. He could feel warm air rushing through them and he wondered what on earth could be on the other side. Suddenly, to his horror, he felt a strange wetness and realised that something was licking his hand. Quickly, he jerked his arm back and fell over, before stumbling to his feet running as far away from the thing as possible.

***

On the other side of the black thing, Grell, who was still sitting on the branch of the tree, opened his eyes a little and just happened to see an extremely strange sight. "W...William!" he called, looking around for the dark haired reaper.

"What is it? Are you feeling alright?" William called from higher up, having climbed to look for water.

"I-I don't know... I could have sworn I just saw someone's arm floating around in midair... It had a suit on, but no glove, and then this... I think it was a deer? This deer just went over there and licked it!" replied Grell, sitting up and staring at the spot below where he'd just seen the arm disappear.

"Alright, now I _know_ I need to get you some water." William said.

 

TO BE CONTINUED


	10. Chapter Ten

After the rather strange 'threat' that Ronald had given them earlier, Eric and Alan were now walking about eight or nine paces behind Ronald. They watched him closely as he skipped happily along in front, noticeably even more carefree than before. Despite being lost in a strange, somewhat scary forest, it seemed to Eric and Alan that they were the only ones who were feeling nervous and uncomfortable about the whole thing. Well, aside from William and Grell they assumed.

"Do you think we'll ever find them?" Alan whispered, keeping a sharp lookout for any signs of red or black. Eric looked at William's scythe in Alan's hand and smiled a bit.

"Maybe not, but you can bet they'll probably find us - there's no way William would leave here without his scythe."

"I guess you're right," Alan replied, also looking at the scythe and smiling a little. "I still can't believe he was nice enough to lend this to me." 

"Well, he's not always as cold as he looks you know," said Eric, looking ahead at Ronald again, who had slowed down a bit and was now actually quite close to them. "Everything alright Ronald?" he asked.

"Uh-huh~" replied the blond reaper, looking over his shoulder. "Just making sure you're not saying anything you shouldn't be!" He laughed then, a high pitched, echoing laugh that made Eric's ears tingle and caused Alan to shake his head a little and blink his eyes rapidly. "Okay then, still looking for a cave aren't we?" Ronald asked, his voice seeming to have changed somewhat and making Eric and Alan's ears feel tense, like when there's a low inaudible pitch or sound that your ears can feel but not hear.

"D-Did something happen to your voice?" Alan asked, wincing at the strange feeling in his ears.

"Hmm? Like what~?" smiled Ronald, the smile extending wider than it really should.

"Nothing... Guess I'm just being weird again..." said Alan, scratching his ear. Ronald laughed and ran ahead again. 

"OK then, let's go find a cave or something!" Ronald cried out happily.

***

William was still perched high up in the tree, looking for any signs of water when he suddenly felt the space next to him get warmer. Turning, he was surprised to see Grell there, trying his hardest to climb up next to William. "What on earth do you think you are doing?" asked the dark haired reaper.

"I'm climbing up here..." replied Grell, gasping from both the exertion and the pain in his legs. Not to mention the lack of water.

"I can see that. I thought I told you to stay put?"

"Not after seeing a hand appear out of nowhere!" Grell cried, finally managing to get his leg over the branch that William was sitting on before losing his balance and starting to fall. "Will-!"

"Honestly Sutcliff, you will go against orders," William sighed, catching Grell rather painfully by the hair and lowering him onto the nearest branch. "Now stay there, and don't move."

"Oh Will! You don't need to be so strict! We're in a haunted forest for crying out loud, can't you be nice for at least a little while?"

"Nice? NICE?! Don't forget who just squeezed out your legs, you ungrateful swine!" William shouted down at him.

"Swine? Since when did you use words like swine? And besides, that wasn't NICE, it was just because you didn't want a dead body on your hands!" replied Grell angrily. William opened his mouth to reply, but closed it again and just glared back at him. "What's wrong, nothing to say?" Grell asked smugly, before realising that he was maybe being a bit unreasonable.

William sighed again and looked away. "Maybe I should have just left you after all then," he said, before starting to climb even higher up and leaving Grell speechless a few branches below. As he got higher, William could feel the air getting warmer and he started to sweat even more, causing his to clothes cling to him. Eventually he realised that if they didn't get water soon, they may in fact actually die. Loosening his collar a bit more and struggling to breathe in the thick air, William started to climb outwards to try and find a clear spot to look from. Eventually, he managed to find a sturdy enough branch and started to edge his way along it. About halfway across however, he started to feel a bit dizzy and before he knew it, everything in front of him had gone black.

***

Meanwhile, the others had finally come across a small rocky area with gaps big enough to easily pass as caves and accommodate three people at a push. "Finally, somewhere we can rest!" said Eric happily, making his way over, still helping Alan to walk. He looked up and tried to judge the climbing distance to the nearest cave.

"Mmm... You know Eric, the 'maggots' you keep talking about could just as easily be in one of those too," said Ronald, walking over with his hands resting casually behind his head.

"...And you didn't think to mention this earlier why exactly?" Eric asked, turning around to face Ronald.

"What can I say? It just came to me," Ronald replied, shrugging.

"Well I don't care," Alan piped up "It's a risk I'm willing to take, I'm exhausted."

"Same here," agreed Eric. He looked at Ronald. "You coming?"

"Why of course! After you though."

"...Fine." Eric turned to Alan, whose leg was still very much unsuitable for climbing. "If it's OK with you, I'm probably going to have to piggyback you up here or something..."

"You mean I hold onto your back while you climb?"

"Afraid so... Unless you have any other ideas."

"I could help him up!" volunteered Ronald.

"Ah... I think I'll just go with Eric's idea..." Alan said, still finding that his ears felt funny when Ronald spoke.

"Tch, suit yourself then," replied Ronald, before starting to climb amazingly quickly up the side of the rocks.

"Hey! I thought you were waiting until we got up?!" called Eric.

"Well I changed my mind!" Ronald shouted down. "Besides, I want to get the best cave before you do!"

***

William opened his eyes to find himself dangling from a branch by the back of his shirt. As he looked down, everything seemed to spin and go out of focus and he found himself feeling a bit sick again. He realised that he wasn't sure if this was due to dehydration or because of the many times he had banged his head since starting this journey. As he went to adjust his glasses, he realised that they were missing and that they must have fallen somewhere when he slipped. He prayed that they weren't broken. Somehow, he managed to unhook himself and dropped relatively pain free onto the branch below before trying to work out what he should do. Even without his glasses on, he could tell that the weather and atmosphere, as well as seemingly the time of day had remained unchanged. Squinting, he looked for any indication that Grell might be close by so that he could try to ask for help, and started to worry somewhat when he found no sign of him. Frantically, he started to look around for his glasses before deciding to try and make his way down to where he last remembered Grell being, injuring himself a bit in the process. When he got to the branch that he was sure he has left the red reaper on and found no sign of him, he started to panic and was about to call out when he felt a pair of arms trap him from behind. "Wha- Sutcliff?! Is that you?"

"Boss!! I'm so happy you're OK!" cried a familiar voice.

"Hey! Hands off my man!" Grell said, sounding surprisingly happy.

"W-What's happening?!" William cried, still unable to see. Suddenly, some red swam into focus in front of him, which he recognised as Grell.

"Lost your glasses again Will? You're just as bad as ever!" Grell laughed before shoving a pair of glasses onto William's face.

"Where did you get these?" William asked, moving to adjust them, butt realising his arms were still trapped in someone's hug.

"Ah sorry..." said Ronald, letting him go. William reached up to fix his glasses, only to realise that they weren't his.

"What-"

"I always keep a spare pair because I know how clumsy you are~!" Grell said. "They're only the basic model, but they get the job done!"

"You carry spare glasses around just for me?" asked William, somewhat taken aback by just how much Sutcliff actually cared for him.

"Well it's really just in case anyone breaks them..." Grell laughed nervously.

"Oh." William said, not feeling as special after all. "I see- Wait a minute, RONALD?!" he exclaimed, turning to face the blond reaper sat behind him. "How-"

"Allow me to explain!" Ronald said happily.

***

2 Hours ago

Grell sat in silence as he watched William progress higher into the tree. After he lost sight of him, he decided to go and investigate that arm he'd seen, wondering if someone perhaps needed his help. Hesitantly, he climbed down the tree and inspected the ground closely before lowering himself onto it. Slowly, he limped over to where he'd seen the arm and was just looking at it when it suddenly appeared again and he found himself being slapped in the face.

*

On the other side

After running for what felt like hours, Ronald finally stopped and sat down on the forest floor, gasping and trying to work out what had just happened. Looking to his left, he realised that everything beyond that point also looked pitch black and that it must be some sort of strange creature in the middle of the forest or something. That or some crazy vortex that only existed in the strange stories he heard in the human realm. Standing up slowly, Ronald made his way back over to an area of the strange black shape that seemed to emit more heat than he could bear. Looking up, he realised that it covered the sky too, blocking any traces of moonlight. _Could it be that it was getting bigger?_ he wondered.

Ronald took a deep breath and stepped forward. He decided that this time, he would stick his head through and see if there was anything on the other side, or perhaps a way out of here. Looking around one more time, he realised that he was in a very similar spot to where he'd been last time and sighed in exasperation as he discovered that once again, he must have ran in a circle. Slowly, he pulled up the sleeve on his blazer and stuck his left arm through as a test, surprised to find that it came into contact with what felt like a squishy face before he found himself being dragged through by an uncontrollable force. Managing to grab onto a branch, he opened his eyes to find himself somehow face to face with Grell.

"What the?"

"Ronald?!"

"AAAH!!!" Ronald cried, pulling himself back through until he was in the much darker and cooler side of the forest. "What... Was that really Grell?!" he asked himself aloud, before deciding to go back through again just to be sure. This time, he walked through it completely and was surprised to find himself in a bright, extremely warm forest.

"There you are!" Grell cried. "I thought I was imagining things!"

"Again, what-"

"You've been gone for nearly two hours, what were you doing?!" asked Grell angrily.

"Two hours?" Ronald asked confused, still squinting while trying to get used to the bright light. "But I came right back..."

"LIAR! I've been waiting here all by myself, worrying... and...and crying and not knowing what to do... IT'S NOT EVEN SAFE TO STAND ON THE GROUND!"

"Whoa slow down!" Ronald said. "Where's William? And the others?"

"William's up in the tree ignoring me, and the others are- WAIT!!!"

"WHAT?!"

"IF YOU'RE HERE, THEN WHO THE HELL IS WITH ERIC AND ALAN?!?!"

***

Now

"...And then Grell explained everything - as best he could anyway - and we climbed up here to wait for you!" Ronald finished explaining.

"So... I was hanging from a tree unconscious and no-one noticed?" asked William.

"Well it IS a high tree..." Grell said.

"I'm not sure that's a very good excuse, but... Ah, I'm sorry for being so horrible earlier Sutcliff; I wasn't feeling too well..." William said apologetically.

"Hey don't worry about it, I was pretty unreasonable too... All is forgiven."

"Wow, how long have you two been stuck together?" Ronald asked "You're actually being nice to each other!"

"I'm always nice!" Grell protested.

"I-It's not nice, it's manners!" William stuttered. "Ah anyway," he coughed, "who IS with the others if Ronald is here?"

***

Meanwhile, Eric had finally succeeded in getting Alan into a cave and was making sure he was comfortable. It was cooler amongst the rocks and it felt nice after all the intense heat of the last few hours. Ronald had chosen a gap in the rocks not far above where Eric and Alan were resting, and finally feeling at least a little safe, the two of them tried to get some sleep. 

Above them, Ronald sat staring up at the sky, watching as it rippled. That could only mean that something had changed, he thought. He smiled a little too widely as he released that his other self must have finally entered the fray.

 

TO BE CONTINUED~


	11. Chapter Eleven

"So let me get this straight," Ronald said, having found a comfortable place to sit in the tree. "You're telling me that there's another, well... _me_ wandering around?"

"So it seems..." replied William, who was still trying to adjust to the glasses that Grell had provided for him to wear; although they enabled him to see, they were not his exact prescription, and he found that he was squinting a lot (probably not helped by the heat and frequent injuries to the head that he had sustained).

"I can't believe you guys!" Ronald said, a little angrily. "You don't even notice when I'm not me?!"

"Well it was hardly our biggest concern!" retorted Grell, whose legs were still extremely painful and itchy. "Besides, I'm sure Eric and Alan must have noticed that something's up by now-"

"Speaking of which, shouldn't we be trying to find them?" William asked. "Sitting here arguing certainly isn't going to get us anywhere."

"Good point," Ronald agreed, taking a quick look around. "I just don't get it," he sighed. "I mean, why be able to get dragged in here but not be able to find the way out?" He looked over at the spot where he had entered. He and Grell had tried to find a way back through to the cooler side of the forest for at least twenty minutes before deciding to wait for William. "And why did this place look black from the outside? And why is it so WARM and-"

"If we knew the answers to those questions, I doubt we'd be here," William butted in. "Anyway, I think our main concern apart from finding Eric and Alan should be locating some water; if me and Grell don't drink soon, I fear we might die."

"I must admit, you do look pretty rough," Ronald said, suddenly noticing how ill both William and Grell looked.

"Did you see any water when you were up the tree?" Grell asked William, feeling himself start to slip from the branch but holding onto Ronald's arm just in time. "Sorry, I was slipping..."

"Don't worry about it," replied the blond. "Well, did you?"

William thought for a while, trying to remember anything before the darkness that overcome his vision. "I'm not sure. I just remember seeing a lot of trees and feeling very hot..."

Ronald looked above him then and an idea formed in his mind. "Hey guys, any idea what direction the other two might have gone in?" he asked.

"Probably the opposite to us, why?" asked William.

"Because I'm gonna try something pretty risky which might help us all get back together at least," Ronald replied. "We can look for water together after that," he added when he saw the doubtful and dehydrated expresisons on Grell and William's faces.

"What exactly are you going to do?" asked Grell worriedly. "The last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves..."

"I think it's _exactly_ what we need," Ronald grinned, starting to climb the tree. "Which direction?"

"What are you planning Knox?"

"Which direction?" he asked again.

"That way," Grell said, pointing to the left.

"Alright!" Ronald exclaimed and climbed the tree hurriedly. When he had managed to get to what he though was high enough, he drew in a deep breath and called out as loudly as he could: "ERIC! ALAN! WE'RE HERE! COME GET US!"

***

Alan awoke with a start, his eyes snapping open at the sound that he was sure he had just heard. Rubbing his eyes and replacing his glasses, he realised that he must have actually fallen asleep and looked over to discover that Eric had done the same. Still unsure of what he had heard, he reached over and shook the other man awake, waiting patiently while he mumbled angrily, still half asleep, before shaking him again.

"Wha...?" Eric asked sleepily, placing his own glasses upon his face.

"I think I heard someone calling our names," replied Alan, looking out of the entrance of their cave-like shelter.

"Who?"

"I don't know, but I could have sworn it sounded like Ronald" Alan replied, looking up to where he suspected the Ronald travelling with them was also resting.

"Maybe something's coming? Or he wants us to move on?" Eric theorised, waking up a bit more.

"Well that's what I thought, except..."

"Except?"

"Except _this_ Ronald sounded far away, like he was calling from a different area of the woods. Even if our Ronald has been acting strange, there's no way he could have gotten so far away so quickly," Alan said, shivering.

"Hm... OK, I'm going to check this out," Eric said, standing up. "You wait here, I'm going to see if he's up there."

"Please be careful; if something happens to you, I'm stuck here!" Alan shouted after him as he left, looking at his injured leg.

Eric had only just managed to step outside when he felt someone grab his collar and pull him up onto a ledge above. He was about to complain when Ronald suddenly slapped his hand over his mouth and whispered to him to be quiet. "If you don't, they might hear you!" whispered Ronald angrily.

"Who?" Eric asked, magaing to push the hand away from his mouth. He looked over to find Ronald looking genuinely afraid, trying to hide in the shadow of his cave.

"Surely you heard them? Someone was calling out your name!" Ronald whispered.

"Yeah, we did hear them," Eric said, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "Alan said it sounded like you."

"Don't be ridiculous! Why would I call you?"

"Well... Maybe it was William and Grell? Either way, I think we should try to find the person who was calling-"

"YOU'RE CRAZY!" Ronald shouted before clamping his hands over his own mouth and scolding himself for talking so loud. "What if it's a trick, huh? Do you really want to risk it?" he whispered.

"Well it's better than just sitting around! At least we'll have done something!"

"What about Alan? Do you really want to put him in danger? Do you?!"

"OK, you seriously need to calm down..." Eric said, noticing that Ronald was shaking. "What happened to you being all calm about this?"

"Wouldn't you be worried too if you heard what sounds like yourself shouting from somewhere else?" Ronald asked, making eye contact with Eric and causing a huge shudder to run down his spine.

"I guess I would, yeah, but how do I know that _you're_ not the imposter?" Eric asked, deciding to just come right out and voice his and Alan's suspicions. Ronald stared back at him in disbelief before standing and walking closer to Eric. He kneeled down so they were face to face.

"Say that again," Ronald growled, narrowing his eyes at the slightly taller reaper.

"Fine, I'm not afraid of you," Eric said, looking into the angry green slits that were staring at him. "How do I know that you're not a fake? You've certainly been acting weird enough."

***

Back in the cave below, Alan was starting to get a little worried at how long Eric was taking to come back. Adjusting his leg as best he could, he started to shuffle towards the opening and was about to call out when Ronald's face appeard in front of him, hanging upside down from somewhere above. "Well hi there Alan!" he grinned, again a little too widely. Alan noticed that as before, his ears felt strange when Ronald spoke.

"Where's Eric?"

"Eric? I thought he was here with you?" Ronald asked innocently, somehow swinging the rest of his body into Alan's cave. Alan jerked back at the sudden movement, causing him to hurt his injured leg even more. "Leg still sore huh?" asked Ronald, moving closer to look at it. Alan noticed that he had a strangely familiar smell coming from him.

"What's that smell?" Alan asked, wrinkling his nose.

"Hm? What smell?" asked Ronald, smiling.

"It smells like..." Alan thought, trying to remember where he'd smelt it. "Ah!" he exclaimed suddenly "It smells like that river! Like-"

"Blood?" asked Ronald. "Now why would I smell of blood~?" again he grinned, making Alan feel even more uncomfortable. 

Alan could feel a fear starting to rise in him and he asked the blond once again: "Where's Eric?"

"You tell me." Ronald replied coldly, twirling a piece of hair between his fingers. Alan noticed that it looked longer than usual. "I wonder," said Ronald, ceasing the twirling and turning to look directly at Alan "did you hear that strange person calling your names? The one that sounded like me?"

"Yes, we did..." Alan replied hesitantly. "Eric went to ask you about it..."

"Oh he did? I didn't see him, are you sure?"

"Perfectly."

"Hm.... Maybe he fell~?" Ronald asked, much too happily. "Afterall, it _is_ quite slippery here!"

"I think I would have seen him..." Alan replied, starting to panic. He looked towards the opening again, wondering if Eric lay at the bottom of the rocky slope.

"Well then..." Ronald grinned once more, "Maybe he ran away."

"Why would he do that?" questioned Alan, feeling intimidated by Ronald's gaze.

"He's been acting strangely lately, maybe it wasn't really Eric?" the blond theorised. "Or perhaps he just got sick of looking after you."

"OK, that does it!" Alan cried angrily. "What have you done with him, you... you..."

"Why would I do anything with him? Perhaps you should be asking what I've done _to_ him~" Alan stared in horror as Ronald removed his right glove to reveal that his hand was stained with blood and his middle finger was missing. "That scythe of his can cause an awful lot of damage you know; so SHARP!"

"NO!" screamed Alan, trying to make his way over to the exit in an attempt to escape, only to feel himself being grabbed by Ronald.

"Now, now, don't be hasty! For all you know, I could have save your life!"

"How can you possibly say that?!" choked alan, feeling tears starting to form in his eyes from both the pain in his leg - which Ronald had a hold of - and the fear he was experiencing.

"Like I said, maybe it wasn't Eric~" replied Ronald.

***

Back up in the tree, William and Grell had grabbed Ronald and stuck their hands over his mouth. "What the hell were you thinking Knox?!" William asked angrily. "What if those monsters come back?!"

"Mmph, mmmph mmmph!" Ronald said through two pairs of hands.

"What?" asked the other two, letting go.

"I said, I'm sure they can't clime trees!" Ronald said, starting to smile only to stop when he saw the serious expressions of the others.

"They have no eyes and they managed to chase us!" Grell said angrily. "They probably have great hearing too and now they know exactly where we are!

"Ah, but so do Eric and Alan!" Ronald said, trying to make light of the situation and find an excuse for his reckless behaviour.

"And the other you..." William added, looking out into the large overheated forest. Ronald suddenly went quiet then, trying to imagine another him but evil, and possibly with no eyes. It wasn't a very nice thought. He was about to say something when Grell started to cough rather violently and complained of feeling dizzy. "I really think we need to find some water..." William said, feeling the dryness in his own throat. He reached out a hand and hesitantly patted Grell on the back - the closest thing to a hug that he was capable of and felt comfortable doing.

"Me too, you're actually initiating contact with someone!" Ronald joked, causing William to withdraw his hand and cough uncomfortably.

"Right now, you seem to be the fittest one here Knox," said the dark haired reaper. "Perhaps it would be a good idea if we waited here for the other two and you went to find some water..."

"But how would you know that it was me who came back?" Ronald asked, serious at last. "What if the...other... me came back?"

"You make a valid point..." replied William, adjusting the replacement glasses. "Alright, how about we come up with some sort of code word so we know it's you? It might also be a good idea not to wander too far from here."

"And keep contact with the ground to a minimum..." Grell rasped.

"How am I supposed to do that?" asked Ronald, looking through the branches to the ground below.

"I don't know, skip?" suggested the redhead, smiling a little.

"But - "

"Anyway, the code word," William butted in . "What's something that only you would know the answer to?"

"Wouldn't the other one know as well though?"

"Maybe..." realised William, seeing the flaw in his plan. The lack of water must be getting to him; Ronald was actually thinking more clearly than he was for once. "OK, we'll lie."

"What?"

"Whatever the real answer is, just say the opposite, or something totally unrelated. It should be a subtle question though, so I could ask the possible other you for the answer without seeming suspicious," William suggested.

"Uh, right... So something like... 'wow, it's hot, what's your favourite weather?'"

"That's TOO subtle. And there's the possibility he might get your answer anyway. No, it has to be something more personal... Alright, how about this: 'if we get out of here, I'll be so happy I'll treat everyone in the office to a meal out in a restaurant. What about you, Ronald? Anything you'll do when you get out of here?'"

"Uh... Celebrate by finally asking that cute receptionist out?" Ronald asked, trying to think of something to say.

"OK, good," William said. "Now instead of that, when I ask you, say something different like 'finally learn a degree in Spanish' or something else smart that is unlike you."

"Hey!" Ronald cried, insulted. "Are you trying to suggest that I'm not smart?"

"Look Knox, I can't be bothered arguing with you, just say something!"

"Ugh fine... I'll finally learn how to..." he coughed "I'll finally learn how to belly dance while reciting the alphabet backwards in Jamaican," he said, looking away in embarassment. William stared at him and Ronald thought he could detect the faintest hint of a smile at the corner of the stern man's mouth.

"Perfect," replied William. "But why?"

"Well if you must know, it's because this girl I once knew said it was her ambition to do that and I took her seriously for a whole year, finally deciding to pay for lessons as a surprise birthday present, only for her to tell me she'd been kidding..."

"I must say, even I find that pretty awful..." William said, feeling a bit sorry for Ronald. "What happened to the girl?"

"She dumped me for being so gullible..." Ronald said, sniffing a little.

William considered comforting him by giving him a pat on the back as well but changed his mind. "This is why I don't date..." he said instead.

"Really? I thought it was because you were too socially awkward," Ronald said, smiling a little. "That or the rumours about you and Grell were true~"

"WHAT RUMOURS?!" asked William, turning red with anger.

"Oh you know~ Guess I'll be off to find that water-"

"What. Rumours." William growled, grabbing Ronald's shirt collar.

"Jeeze William, how out of touch are you?" Ronald asked, laughing. "Listen, we have bigger things to worry about; once we get out of here I'll explain everything," he said, removing William's hand. He looked over to see why Grell himself wasn't making any smart comments and was surprised to find that he had passed out. "OK, I better find some water and fast." he said, serious again. He gave a quick salute to William and started to climb down quickly through the tree until he reached the ground. William propped Grell up against the trunk of the tree, making sure he wouldn't fall before sitting back and sighing. He really hoped they would survive this.

TO BE CONTINUED~


	12. Chapter Twelve

Ronald sighed in exasperation as he walked through the forest searching for water. He must have been walking for at least half an hour or so now, and the heat was starting to get to him. Removing his tie and unbuttoning a few buttons on his shirt, he climbed up a few branches on a nearby tree - something Grell had suggested to avoid staying on the ground too long. He looked around and was met with nothing but even more trees. _How hard can it be to find some water around here?_ he thought to himself, deciding that if he didn't find any soon, he may have to go back. After a few minutes of rest, he climbed back down and started to walk again. He was about to turn right when he suddenly felt his foot stepping into mid-air and before he could react, he found himself falling forwards and slipping down a muddy bank, crashing into various branches and tree roots as he did so, before finally landing on some jagged rocks and losing consciousness.

***

William sat silently with his back against the trunk staring almost too intently at a small bump in the wood of the branch in front of him. He wondered what could possibly be taking Ronald so long to find water; although they too had struggled, that was most likely because they were dehydrated and had suffered multiple wounds in the process of arriving here, whereas Ronald was relatively unharmed. He looked over at Grell who was sleeping softly with his head bent slightly to the left. At least, he _thought_ he was asleep; what if the lack of water had finally killed him? William reached out hesitantly with his right hand and gave the other reaper a gentle nudge to see if he would respond. To his relief, the nudge was met with an angry mumble and Grell shifted a little, straightening his neck. _Good_ William thought. At least he was alive. 

William sighed and went back to staring at the bump in the wood. "Bloody rumours," he said aloud, glaring at the wood. He wondered what the rumours could possibly be, but even as he sat there he was already beginning to have an idea of what they might involve. The bump was starting to annoy him now for some reason and he reached his foot out to kick it to see if it would disappear. Instead, all he succeeded in doing was causing himself to lose balance, and he had to grab onto the branch above to avoid falling. Steadying himself, he looked over at Grell again and sighed once more. _What happened to you?_ he thought, remembering the short haired man he had met years ago who had been so much more independent and less annoying. Now he just looks like a girl, William thought and a very irritating one at that. Still, he didn't hate Sutcliff; he couldn't. As much as he hated to admit it, he had a certain fondness for the redhead that he couldn't quite get rid of, no matter how much he ignored him and how cruel he was towards him. He wondered sometimes if he was maybe too cruel, but he figured if that were the case, Grell would have given up on him a long time ago. Adjusting his replacement glasses, William wondered whether it might be a good idea to climb the tree again to look for water, since Ronald seemed to be taking so long, but thought better of it in case something happened to Grell and he was held responsible for it. The last thing he needed at a time like this was an argument with Knox. Instead, he just wiped the sweat from his forehead and tried to find a shadier position.

***

Blood obscured Ronald's vision once again as he awoke to find himself lying in an awkward position amongst some sharp rocks. As he tried to stop the flow of liquid, his ears were met by a familiar sound that took him a moment to recognise while he tried to stop his head from throbbing. Eventually, he realised what it was and sat up in excitement, causing everything to go black for a moment. "W-Water!!" he cried out loud to himself as he realised he was lying next to a fast flowing river and that he seemed to have fallen down some sort of cliff face. "WATER!!" he yelled again, louder this time hoping that William might be able to hear him, but fearing that his shouts would be lost amongst the roar of the water hitting the rocks. Using all of his strength, he rolled himself from the rocks into the cool, frothy liquid and started to wash the blood from himself. Checking himself over, he was glad to find none of his bones broken and that his glasses had once again survived the fall, although he had no idea how this came to be.

After a while, he decided he would try to follow the river to see where it led and perhaps find a calmer area in which they could swim to cool down, and where he could gather some water to drink. As he started to try and climb out however, he was overtaken by the current, which swept him off his feet and started to carry him along at an alarming speed. "Not again!" he cried out in despair - he seemed to be having nothing but accidents since this trip began. Eventually, he decided to let the water just carry him, rather than fighting it. All was going well until he spotted a huge drop up a head. To his horror, he realised that it was a waterfall and was all too soon trying to escape from the current again. Just before he fell over the edge, his hand managed to find an outcropped rock and he grabbed it just as the water started to fling him over. Somehow managing to pull himself up, he found himself on a surface of flat rocks which formed a narrow ledge alongside the water and decided that he would follow it. As he looked, he noticed that it followed the shape of the waterfall via a very thin, very slippery ledge that sloped down towards the bottom of the cascading water. Somewhat spontaneously, he decided he would take the risk and follow it, amazed to find himself still alive when he finally reached the bottom. By this point, he was absolutely soaked and he realised that a lot of his clothing had been ripped when he fell. Still, at least he was a lot cooler now instead of sweating to death.

Continuing to walk in the direction of the water, he couldn't help but wonder how on earth he was going to get back to the others. As he stepped forward, his foot suddenly kicked something soft and looking down, he was surprised to find that his foot had come into contact with a hand... which was attached to an arm, which was attached to... "Eric?!" Ronald asked, moving away some stray leaves, which covered the majority of Eric's body, to get a better look. Kneeling down, he found that it was in fact Eric, washed up against the rocks with what looked like a rather nasty scratch along the right side of his face. Still clutched in his hand was his scythe, which Ronald could see had traces of blood on it, despite most of it having been washed off. As he was wondering who the blood could belong to, Eric suddenly opened his eyes and, seeing Ronald, took a swing at him with his saw, almost decapitating the poor blond.

"Get away from me, monster!" Eric cried, lunging at Ronald again. Ronald managed to dodge him just in time, almost falling into the water again.

"What are you talking about?!" Ronald shouted, dodging another attack.

"No more mind games! Die already!" screamed Eric. Ronald noticed that his right eye was shut, most likely because of the scratch on his face and that his glasses were missing. "What have you done to Alan?!"

"I haven't done anything!" Ronald said in despair, holding up his hands in defence. "Eric listen, I think you've hurt yourself really badly, we need to get you some help OK?" he reached out in an attempt to calm the other reaper.

"Don't touch me!"

"Eric look, it's me, it's Ronald!" Ronald wondered if he could see with only one eye and no glasses. Still not lowering his weapon, Eric glared a little and pointed at Ronald's right hand.

"Hold up your right hand."

"What?"

"Just do it!!" Eric screamed. Unsure what was happening, Ronald held up his hand.

"L-Like this?"

"Take off the glove!" 

Ronald removed his glove, revealing five, perfectly fine fingers. Looking closer and giving the fingers a slight poke, Eric finally sighed in relief and stopped pointing his saw at Ronald. 

"Thank god," Eric said.

"Want to explain what's happening now?" Ronald asked, replacing his glove. Eric sat down, exhausted, closely followed by Ronald, who still kept his distance a little in case he went crazy again.

"There was...There was another you..." Eric said, reaching up to feel the wound on his face and wincing. "He- No, _it_ fooled us into following it, but when we figured out what it was, it attacked me and must have knocked me unconscious. I guess it threw me out of the cave hoping I would die."

"But why did you want to see my hand?" Ronald asked, trying to comprehend what Eric was saying.

"I cut its finger off. The middle one on its right, just before it did this to me," Eric replied, pointing at his face. "The caves must be a good few miles from here by now, god knows how far I've come down river..."

"It's a miracle you're still alive!" Ronald said, wondering how he was going to get Eric back to William and Grell. 

"It's a miracle you're here! We couldn't believe it when we heard- OH MY GOD!!!" screamed Eric suddenly.

"What!?"

"Alan!! He was still in the cave!! Who knows what that thing could have done to him by now!" said Eric, starting to cry a little in despair. "There's no way he could have fought back - his leg... it was injured..."

Ronald was starting to panic too now, looking up above them to see if there was any trace of a cave. "How far away do you think it could be?" he asked.

"Who knows?" Eric said, starting to sob. "I knew this damn trip was a bad idea! And now it's too late! He's probably DEAD and there's nothing I can do!"

"Get a hold of yourself!" Ronald said, grabbing Eric's shoulders and shaking him slightly. "There's always a chance he's OK, and we won't know for sure unless we find him will we?"

"But-"

"But nothing damn it! Can you see without your glasses?" Ronald asked.

"I-I think so..." Eric said, looking around and seeing relatively clearly with his left eye. "I mean, it would be better if I had two eyes, but I'm afraid to see if my other eye is still there in case it's not..."

"We'll worry about that later," Ronald said seriously, helping Eric to stand. "You've obviously been washed downstream, so we should start by following the water in the opposite direction, though how you managed to survive the drop of the waterfall, I don't know."

"Maybe I didn't, maybe there's another way?" pondered Eric, looking around.

"I don't think so... I think we should just be prepared for a long and dangerous walk." replied Ronald, looking hopelessly at the wall of water. "Come on, the longer we wait, the longer Alan is in danger."

***

In the tree, William was starting to get increasingly frustrated at the length of time it was taking Ronald to return. They had agreed on a limit of an hour in which to at least give them some sort of indication that he was OK, yet it seemed that he had been waiting for much longer. As he was about to consider doing something, he suddenly felt a warm presence on his left and he turned to find Ronald crouching there, grinning at him. "How's it going boss?" he asked, smiling. William noticed that his ears tingled as Ronald spoke.

"Knox! Where have you been all this time? I was starting to get concerned..."

"Aww cute~!" Ronald said, rather out of character. "You needn't worry about me; I'm a big boy now!"

"Yes... Did you find any water?" William asked, starting to feel slightly afraid. He knew he would have to slip the security question in somehow.

"I sure did!" replied Ronald, grinning again. Was William imagining things or had his hair gotten longer?

"Well where is it?"

"You didn't give me anything to put it in! You'll have to come with me I guess~"

"Oh my, how foolish of us," William realised, wondering what the real Ronald - if this was not him - would do if he came across water. In their delirium, they had forgotten to give him any of the bottles Grell had stashed. Realising that he may be walking into danger, William decided to try his luck with the question. "Haha, wow Ronald, if we get out of here, I'll be so happy I'll treat everyone in the office to a meal out in a restaurant. What about you, Ronald? Anything you'll do when you get out of here?"

"Me?" asked Ronald. "Well... I guess I'll finally learn how to belly dance while reciting the alphabet backwards in Jamaican~"

William's eyes widened in shock at the correct answer - surely this wasn't really Ronald? Yet... he had managed to answer correctly. But how? "B-But why?" William asked, trying to trick the man next to him.

"Well, it's because this girl I once knew said it was her ambition to do that and I took her seriously for a whole year, finally deciding to pay for lessons as a surprise birthday present, only for her to tell me-"

"Enough!" William interrupted, suddenly leaning forward to grab Ronald by the throat. "Who are you and what have you done with Ronald?!"

"But I AM Ronald!" replied the blond, starting to choke. "The heat has made you go crazy! Look at what you're doing, you're trying to kill me!" William loosened his grip and looked at the man in front of him. Was he right? Was the heat making him imagine things? Letting go, he sat back against the trunk and watched as Ronald rubbed his throat.

"I-I'm sorry," William said quietly.

"It's fine... Shall we go and find the water now? I'll carry Grell if you like?" smiled Ronald.

"Don't worry, I've got him," replied William, picking up the redhead and starting to climb down with some difficulty.

"Really now, let me help," Ronald said, taking Grell and climbing down almost too quickly. William hastily followed and the three of them started to make their way towards the river.

***

Eric and Ronald had just managed to successfully climb the waterfall when Eric spotted movement up ahead. "What's that?" he asked, pointing above where they were standing to a spot very far away which Ronald recognised as near the place he had fallen.

"What's what?" replied Ronald, squinting to see in the sunlight.

"I could have sworn I saw what looked like people standing on that cliff or whatever it is just a moment ago..." said Eric, still looking. "Maybe I'm seeing things-"

"Maybe not!" cried Ronald as he suddenly saw a blur of black and red fall from the rocks towards the water below.

"Is that what I think it is?!" Eric asked in fear.

"Not it, _who_ !!" yelled Ronald. "And by the looks of things, someone's pushed them off the edge!"

"We better hurry!" 

Franticly, the duo started to run towards where they had seen the two people falling, slipping many times in the process. As they neared, they could make out the shape of splayed limbs and long hair tangled in the rocks, all of which was surrounded by a ghastly pool of dark red which was being hastily washed away. "Oh my god..." Eric said, as they started to wade through the river to get to the other side where the bodies lay.

"It really is them..." Ronald said, stunned. "Do you think...?"

"I can see William twitching, so I think he's alive at least," said Eric. "Although it may just be muscle reflexes..." Ronald could feel vomit rising in his throat as they got closer and the smell of blood got stronger. Eventually, they managed to make it to the other side and ran over to William and Grell who were lying motionless. "I think-" began Eric, but he was cut off by a large boulder which fell from above and hit him hard on the head. He stood, wobbling for a moment before falling forward, unconscious.

"ERIC!!" cried Ronald. He looked up to see where the boulder had come from and saw what he though was himself staring back at him with a huge grin on his face before he too was knocked out.

***

A cackling laughter surrounded him as Ronald opened his eyes to find himself in a cold, dark cave with just a small opening above him providing the only light. As he tried to move, he realised that his hands had been tied behind his back and his ankles were bound together also. "Hellooooo me~!" a high voice chimed, echoing off the walls of the cavern. As Ronald watched, a figure came into view, seeming to emerge from the darkness like it was a part of it - perhaps it was. "Well look what we have here!" it said smiling. Ronald just continued to stare, trying to take in what was happening. The person in front of him looked like him, but with slightly longer hair and a grin that was too wide for its face. "I hope that bang to the head wasn't too hard; I want you to be aware of what's happening after all."

"W-Where am I?" Ronald coughed, surprised at the dryness of his throat.

"Well... I'd say you were in a cave," replied the other him.

"Yes, but-"

"Stop talking, it's annoying me. That other one wouldn't shut up either."

"Alan?" cried Ronald. "What did you do to him you-?"

"I said stop talking! Anyway, he's fine... maybe. I wonder if you'll scream as much as he did?" grinned the other Ronald. The real Ronald stared back in horror and wondered if the other three were OK, or if they were going through a similar ordeal.

"So, tell me," grinned the other Ronald "Do you know what this is?" he asked, reaching into the inside of his blazer and retrieving a long metal pin with a small red rose decorating the top. Ronald just stared back silently, not answering. "It's a hatpin," continued the other Ronald, moving closer and pointing the pin at Ronald's left eye. Ronald realised that his glasses had been pushed up away from his face. "Although mostly a decorative item, they are notoriously known for being one of the most popular murder weapons to be used by women." He moved the pin down so it hovered over Ronald's heart. "The pin you see is so sharp and so strong that it is easily able to pass through flesh and bone without bending or snapping even once." The other Ronald smiled as he saw Ronald's eyes widen ever so slightly as he said this. "Yes... I make a point to carry one of these inside the coat of whatever disguise I'm wearing..." it continued, moving the pin away from Ronald and pricking the end of its left index finger with it. "You see? So sharp~"

"I guess this makes you a woman then," Ronald said, smiling a little to conceal his fear. "Always carrying such a girly item around."

"Well aren't you funny?" the other Ronald smiled, before moving forward suddenly with the pin aimed in front and stopping just in time before the sharp metal penetrated Ronald's chest. "I don't like funny people," the other Ronald said darkly, glaring at Ronald through his too-long bangs.

"That's strange, because you seem like a pretty funny guy to me," Ronald said sarcastically. He wondered how long he could keep this going before he really was stabbed. The other Ronald laughed darkly. "Find something amusing?" Ronald asked.

"Only the fear that you are clearly trying to hide~" replied the other. "Perhaps it's time we sped things up a bit." Ronald watched as the other him smiled widely to reveal a set of sharp, gleaming teeth.

"I don't think so," Ronald said, almost too happily. "One of my best friends has teeth like those and I've never felt afraid of him."

"Maybe not," the other Ronald said, grinning "but it's not the appearance of the teeth that is meant to frighten you." Ronald was about to question what he meant when he suddenly felt the other Ronald's breath next to his ear. "I can move faster than you think you know," he said, moving closer. Ronald felt the jagged points of the teeth on the edge of his ear. "Let's see you act so smug when you have no ear left," the other Ronald whispered. Ronald could feel it grinning. "Or perhaps," the hatpin moved up until it once again was aimed at Ronald's eye, "when you have no eyes? Then we can be the same." The other Ronald moved back to face the real Ronald, revealing two large black holes in the place of his eyes. "Would you like that?"

"Why are you doing this?!" Ronald cried, finally letting the fear show in his voice. "What's the point?!"

"It's not me you should be asking~" said the other, touching the pin against Ronald's cheek and causing a thin stream of blood to flow out. "Don't forget who sent you on this mission in the first place."

"What do you mean?"

"Oops, I've said too much~" grinned the other Ronald, taking Ronald's face in his hand and turning it to the left so he could lick the blood from his face.

"Stop that!" Ronald said, trying to head-butt his other self and failing.

"You can't make me~ Or should I say _you_ ?" the other Ronald laughed. Ronald stiffened as the other him started to stroke the pin slowly around his neck. "What's wrong? You were acting so calm just a second ago~"

"You don't have to do this," begged Ronald. "Whatever you think you've been ordered to do or whatever this is, you don't need to obey... Just let me go and-" Ronald stopped talking as he felt the pin being pushed slowly against his chest and through his skin, the sudden pain causing him to lose all his breath.

"You were saying?" sighed the other Ronald, seemingly bored. "The other one was much more fun, he screamed almost the whole time! 'Eric, Eric! Help meeee!' It got annoying after a while so I broke his jaw but he still wouldn't shut up." It realised he had continued to push the pin further as he'd been speaking and suddenly pulled it out, causing Ronald to get sick from the pain that followed. "Oh my, I'm sorry. Perhaps I should put my eyes back in!" it laughed, blinking to reveal bright emerald eyes back in the sockets. Ronald could feel a pool of blood forming on his chest and looked down to see his shirt turning red. Although the initial injury had been small, the sudden removal of the pin had had a violent impact. He watched in disgust as the other Ronald placed the bloodied pin on his tongue and licked his blood from that as well.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Ronals gasped, trying hard not to cause himself any more pain. "In fact - what _are_ you?!"

"That's for me to know and you never to find out~" grinned his other self, revealing the sharp teeth that still remained. "Now then, I think what I'll do first is get my finger back," he said, reaching behind Ronald and grabbing his right hand. Ronald clenched his hands into fists to prevent the monster from grabbing any of his fingers. "Come now, don't be selfish, you have ten of them!"

"G-Get the hell away from me!!" screamed Ronald, moving about as much as he could. Eventually the other Ronald gave up and turned to face him again.

"Fine! I won't need it for much longer anyway once you are all dead. This is the stupidest form I've ever had to take!" it complained. Suddenly, its eyes widened and it smiled at him again.

"What?" Ronald asked hesitantly.

"I've just had an idea for a fun game we can play!" it cried happily.

"I don't want to play any games!" Ronald yelled, wincing at the pain in his chest.

"Oh no, you'll like this one! Close your eyes~" the other Ronald replied. Out of fear of what would happen if he disobeyed, Ronald did so and opened them when commanded to find not himself, but Alan sitting in front of him, his small pale face plastered with a huge grin. "Isn't this fun?!" 'Alan' cried happily "Now you get to die at the hands of your friends~!"

TO BE CONTINUED~


	13. Chapter Thirteen

In a different cave, Grell opened his eyes to find himself face to face with what looked like William, but which was clearly not. As Grell opened his mouth to question what was happening and why William's face was upside down for some reason, he found his mouth clamped shut by the other man's hand and watched as the William-lookalike did some sort of backflip, still with his hand over Grell's mouth and landed in front of him. "Well hello there~" it said, releasing the red reaper's mouth.

"What the heck is going on?!" cried Grell, realising in horror that his hands had been tied behind his back and a piece of rope hung around his neck. "Who are you? What-" his words were cut off by the piece of rope around his neck being tightened with a sudden, sharp pull, which made him gag.

"Quiet you, I'll do the talking," said 'William'. "Now then, I have a question - Where did the other me go?"

"W-What?" Grell choked, trying to loosen the rope by shaking his head. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"The other me! The REAL William!" shouted the man in front of him angrily. "When I got there, it was just you and that fool Eric, but 'Other Ronald' promised me that William would be there too, so where is he?!"

"I don't know!" Grell shouted back, which was met by another tightening of the rope. Grell quickly tried to think of all the possible reasons for William's absence - could it be that he had managed to get away in time? Surely not after such a fall; even Grell could feel the pain in his body after being shoved onto the sharp rocks below. Perhaps someone had gotten to him first? Or _something_... Grell thought. "Wait - Where's the other me?" Grell asked suddenly, taking the William in front of him by surprise.

"What?"

"If there's another William, there must be another me right?" Grell asked, wondering where he was going with this.

The William laughed. "Ha, you really are stupid aren't you?" he grinned. "It doesn't quite work like that," he continued, getting closer and transforming before Grell's eyes into a copy of himself. "We can be whoever we want, whenever we want. I'm willing to bet the 'other you' is with Eric right now, asking the same questions that I am. Although most likely, he looks like Alan right now."

"I-I don't understand..." Grell said, shocked at seeing himself in front of his eyes. "At the very start, in the carriage... there were-"

"Copies of everyone? Maybe there were, maybe there weren't. This forest can play tricks on your mind you know?" the Other Grell chuckled, turning away for a moment and turning back around to reveal William's face but still with Grell's body. "See what I mean?" Grell let out a shriek of surprise and terror, and felt like he was about to pass out from both the shock and the fact that the rope was pressing on his throat.

"Don't be such a cry baby!" laughed the monster in front of him. "It's no fun if they give up quickly!"

"Why... Why are you doing this?" Grell begged, starting to sob. He realised that his glasses were missing and was glad that his eyesight wasn't too bad, although right now he was wishing he _couldn't_ see what was in front of him.

"That's for me to know, and you never to find out~" it replied, pulling the rope again and making Grell cough. The strange hybrid sighed. "The last group were more fun than you..."

"L-Last group?" spluttered Grell, wondering if he could perhaps negotiate with this thing.

"Hm? Oh never mind, I've said too much. If only our times weren't so different, we wouldn't have to draw this out so long..." it mumbled to itself. "Still, it passes the time!"

"What times? What differences?" asked Grell, confused.

"That's none of your business," replied the thing, morphing into William fully again. "Although I doubt if it would make much of a difference if I told you. In fact, it might be fun to see your faces when you find out they betrayed you." 

Finally catching his breath, Grell allowed himself to ponder over what the William had said. Who had betrayed him? The others? No... They were caught up in this too... then who could it be? Eventually, Grell decided to just risk it and ask. "Who betrayed me?"

"Ha, don't be so arrogant. No-one betrayed _you_ , all of you were betrayed. It's all part of their plan - and if you ask who again, I'll eat you," the monster said, glaring at Grell. "I'm speaking too much again... It's no wonder the others always shout at me." It sighed once more. "Still, it's never done any harm."

"What _are_ you exactly?" asked Grell, feeling a little sorry for it for some reason; it seemed lonely.

"Who knows? I'm this, I'm that... I'm everything I suppose."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Neither does the fact that you're talking to me so confidently! Who do you think you are huh?!" it asked angrily all of a sudden, slapping Grell hard across the face. "Don't think that just because I'm talking to you I'm not going to kill you! I'm just bored!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" wept Grell, feeling his cheek turn hot.

"You should be! Anyway, I don't know what I am - It's your damn superiors you should be questioning-"

"What?!" Grell cried in surprise.

"Stop asking so many bloody questions!"

Grell shut his mouth and stared at the ground in silence. He wondered again what had happened to the others and why this thing hadn't killed him yet. Maybe it really was bored and was just wasting time...

***

Twigs crackled underfoot as William ran frantically through the forest, followed closely by Eric. He had no idea where he was or where he was going, but he knew he had to keep moving. "Get the hell away from me!" he called to the figure behind him, which was catching up fast. "I know you're not Eric!!"

"What are you talking about?!" the other reaper called back, "of course I am!"

"No! I saw him, I saw Eric lying on the ground unconscious, there's no way you would have caught up this quickly!" William yelled.

"You're delirious! The heat is getting to your head!" 

"NO!!" William almost screamed, turning right suddenly in an attempt to lose the person behind him. His head was spinning as he tried to work out what exactly was happening and what he was meant to do about it - although the fall had probably contributed to the dizziness as well. Speaking of which, William was starting to become painfully aware of the ache all over his body from falling onto the rocks, and he wondered if he might be becoming slightly anaemic as a result of all the blood loss from the cuts that were still mostly open. He couldn't even remember how he had gotten here to be honest - he had vague memories of trying to stay afloat after jumping into the stream whilst at the same time trying to hide, and of somehow climbing up until he was amongst the trees, but it all seemed to be one big blur. Taking another sharp turn, he grabbed onto an overhanging branch and - rather to his surprise - managed to swing himself up until he was above the ground before hastily climbing higher. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he looked down to see if he could spot the figure following him and gave a silent cheer when he saw it run off in the other direction. 

Finally, he allowed himself some time to sit back and catch his breath. As he went to adjust his glasses, he realised that they felt strange and when he removed them, he was shocked to find that he was wearing Grell's glasses. He figured he must have grabbed them out of haste when he discovered that his own had broken and was shocked at the durability of the red spectacles. Replacing them upon his face, he noticed that everything seemed to have a slightly blurry outline to it and realised that reapers must have different vision to each other after all - he had always assumed it was similar. William ran a hand through his hair and took a moment to look at the state he was in. He'd lost his gloves, his blazer was nowhere to be seen, most of his remaining clothing had rips all over it and his tie had somehow become tied around his head to form some sort of sweatband. _And now I'm wearing red glasses_ he thought to himself. _How on earth must I look?_ For a brief moment, he was glad that no-one else was with him.

***

Ronald coughed violently, sending a spurt of blood flying across the floor of the cave (although it was barely noticeable amongst the red liquid that already covered most of it.) The fake Alan stood above him, smiling and swinging the hat pin between its fingers like a clock pendulum. "Are we having fun yet~?" it asked, bending down and holding Ronald's face between its thumb and forefinger. "You should get rid of that frowny face; it'll give you wrinkles!"

"G-Get the hell away from me!" Ronald managed to say, squinting through the swollen mess that his eyelids had become. Blood obscured the vision in his left eye, running down from one of the deep cuts on his forehead. The monster had suddenly turned violent when he started asking too many questions and had not stopped torturing him since. Ronald wondered how long he had been here and how much time he even had left to live. Finally, the thing let go of him and stood up again briefly. When it bent back down, Ronald could see that it had reverted back to looking like himself.

"This form is much better don't you think?" it asked, pointing the pin towards Ronald's ear. "So much more handsome."

"If you... think I'm so good looking... then why are you making me look so... unrecognisable?" Ronald panted through the pain, figuring he had nothing left to lose by trying to be at least a little cocky.

"Because, if we _both_ look good, no-one will pay any attention to me!" it cackled, moving the pin towards Ronald's left nostril. "Shall we play 'Egyptians'?" it asked, referring to how Egyptians used to pull out the brain through the nose.

"I'd rather not," Ronald coughed, sending another fountain of blood out of his mouth. He hadn't known that reapers could be injured this badly - but then, this forest seemed to go against everything he had previously believed in.

"Yes, I suppose you're right... It wouldn't be any fun if I killed you now. Besides, I have to wait for _them_ to get here and I wouldn't want your body to rot away before then." This statement gained Ronald's interest, and he couldn't help but ask who 'they' were. "Oh no-one important really..." replied the other him, twirling the hat pin between its fingers. "Well, OK, they are, but you don't need to know that. I'm bored now, and hungry, is it alright if I have a bite- Hey that rhymes!" the creature laughed. It was clearly insane.

"Wh-What do you mean?!" cried Ronald.

"Ha, what, do you think I'm just going to sit here with all of this wonderful meat in front of me and ignore it?" the other Ronald grinned. "You'd have to be crazy to do that! Wait... I AM!" Was Ronald imagining it, or was this monster slowly turning more insane with every passing second? "We've passed enough time now, wasted enough I mean. I don't know how much has gone out there, but it shouldn't be too long before they come and check up on us. It's so wonderful that you came, otherwise we might have gotten in trouble-"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" screamed Ronald, annoyed at all of the ambiguous messages that made no sense. He regretted this immediately though, as it induced an extremely painful coughing fit.

"Oh right, how selfish of me. I was just explaining why I should eat you right~?"

"I'm not talking about that - Who are these people that are coming?" asked Ronald inbetween coughing.

"Why, your superiors of course! Uh oh! I said too much! Naughty me~" it giggled looking away. "Or... to be more precise... The _superior_ superiors. But alas, what do I know? I just work for them after all~"

"Look..." Ronald said, deciding to try and reason with it. "You don't have to do this, ok? Whatever you're afraid of, whoever you work for, I can help you... I can help you go somewhere else. What benefit do you get from killing me and my friends? You're only making yourself look bad and that's never a good thing." Ronald mentally slapped himself for sounding like such an idiot. The other him, who had been just sitting there listening, smiled at him again.

"That was a lovely little speech, but I'm not doing this out of fear, I'm doing it for FUN!"

***

Unsure what to do, William sat in the tree pondering his next move. He seemed to be spending a lot of time in trees lately, he realised. As he was planning his next route and trying to work out how to save the others, he noticed some of the leaves rustling to his left and hastily climbed a little higher to avoid being seen. He was shocked to see a rather weak looking Eric emerge through the foliage and was about to kick him down when he realised that this was not a fake, but the real one - The fact that he was covered in a large amount of cuts and seemed to be running from something confirmed this. William followed his line of vision until he saw what appeared to be Grell running through the trees below. He almost called out, but realised that if it was the real Grell, Eric would not have been running. Instead, he sat silently, unmoving until it had left before climbing slowly down and hovering above Eric.

"Eric?" he whispered, which was met by a loud shout that was quickly silenced by William's hand over the other reaper's mouth. "Quiet you fool, or it'll come back!" he whispered angrily, removing his hand.

"W-William?" Eric asked, surprised at the rather feral appearance of William without his full uniform.

"It's me," replied the dark haired reaper, swinging down to sit next to Eric on the branch. "How can you be here Slingby, I saw you unconscious," he said, reverting back to his formal way of addressing people.

"I could say the same about you..." Eric replied, looking at William suspiciously. "How do I know you're not like that Grell thing down there that just tried to eat my face off?"

"WHAT?!"

"That's right, you heard me correctly. We were walking together, when suddenly I turned around and its whole face was... It was like a mouth on a body, I swear," Eric shuddered.

"Why did you have to tell me that?" William asked quietly, starting to feel even more afraid than he already had been. "And then what?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"It's not that I _want_ to, more that I _need_ to just in case it happens to me," William replied, feeling a little sick.

"Well..." gulped Eric "Basically, the thing lunged at me and tried to eat my face off, like I said. I'm lucky I had this," he added, suddenly holding up a rather familiar red chainsaw.

"Where did you get that?!" William asked, suddenly realising that Grell was now possibly trapped somewhere, defenceless.

"I don't know, I just had it when I woke up in the woods."

"The woods? But-"

"As a matter of fact, where did you get those glasses?" Eric asked, pointing to Grell's glasses which sat upon William's face. 

"I don't know... I just grabbed them I guess."

"William..."

"Yes?"

"...How are we alive?"

"I... don't know." William replied, suddenly realising how impossible this whole scenario truly was.

"They're playing with us, they must be. Waiting for us to go insane or... Having fun hunting us down, something like that," theorised Eric.

"Maybe..." A thousand thoughts were flowing through William's mind right now - Where should they go? What should they do? Should they try to save the others or was it already too late? Was this even Eric? His train of thought was interrupted by Eric shoving the chainsaw in front of his face. "What?" he asked distractedly, realising that Eric had been talking.

"I think you should keep hold of this since you don't have your scythe," Eric said. "Besides, didn't you used to own one of these once?"

"That was a LONG time ago Slingby," William said, taking the chainsaw somewhat reluctantly. "Still, I suppose this at least shows I can trust you."

"And I guess it shows that I at least think you're not evil - for now," replied Eric, still looking at William warily. "So now what do we do? I can tell you right now that I refuse to leave this place without the others."

"I guess we have no choice but to go and save them then..." William sighed, looking over the vast forest that lay before them. "The question is, where do we begin?"

 

TO BE CONTINUED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole chainsaw thing... I just have this weird theory that William used to have a chainsaw as a scythe, you can ignore it if you like, it's just a weird idea I have XD


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Ronald stared deeply into the cold eyes of his copy as it slowly started to approach him. Clenching his jaw, he steeled himself in anticipation of whatever pain was to follow; he had made the decision that he would not give this monster the pleasure of hearing him scream in agony.

"That's an awfully sombre expression you have there," it said, its teeth growing longer and sharper with each step it took forward - or was that just Ronald's imagination? Ronald just stared back in silence, refusing to break the eye contact between them. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered something about how animals like dogs often perceive eye contact as a threat and thought that if he perhaps could maintain it, he might scare the attacker away . He also knew however that this was highly unlikely. "What happened to your sarcasm and quick wit?" the copy asked, once again using the hatpin as a threat by trailing it slowly across Ronald's neck. Even still, the blond remained silent.

Almost too quickly, the copy suddenly crouched down until it was level with Ronald, who still knelt on the ground. "You know something I've always hated?" it asked. "Those really annoying books where the criminal mastermind, or the monster or what have you spends about thirty pages talking to their victim rather than doing anything. I've always thought: in the time they spent blabbering on, they could have killed them already and then the stupid hero wouldn't have had a chance to rescue them, you know?" The copy stopped talking and looked at Ronald expectantly as if waiting for an answer, and Ronald couldn't help but notice how its grin seemed to spread across almost its whole face now. Despite the unease he felt, he continued to maintain eye contact and did not respond. "And yet, here I am talking like the very characters I despise," the monster said eventually. "I guess we should change that hm? Where to begin though... Do I silence you by ripping out your throat or cripple you by feasting on the tendons in your legs? So many choices!"

"Why don't you do us both a favour by eating your own tongue?" Ronald said eventually, feeling vomit rise in his throat at the thought of being touched by this vile thing.

"Ah, there we go! I missed your little comments~" the monster replied. "Guess it would be best not to rip out your throat then or I won't hear them! Very well, leg muscles it is," it said before suddenly grabbing Ronald's right leg. Both to Ronald and the creature's surprise, the blond reaper suddenly drew his leg back and kicked the copy in its jaw with immense force, causing it to let go and stagger back. With a speed that astonished even him, Ronald rolled onto his stomach and started kicking himself towards the entrance of the cave, all the while trying to stand up. He soon realised in horror that his efforts were in vain though as he found the entrance to the cave blocked and felt the heat of the monster as it approached him from behind. "That... Was not very nice of you," it growled in a deep guttural voice that was much different from before. Ronald turned just in time to catch a glimpse of its jaw which hung bloodied at a crooked angle before he felt the sharp sting of teeth in his shoulder.

***

"Can you remember what direction you came from?" William asked Eric as they attempted to make their way back to the waterfall and the possible location of their friends. The two of them had discovered much to their joy that the trees in this area grew fairly close together, allowing for efficient travel between them without having to touch the ground. Not only did this help them avoid the risk of running into another giant-mouthed monster, but it also lowered the chance that the ground itself would eat them. William shuddered at the memory of Grell's infected legs and wondered not for the first time whether the red reaper was alright; he didn't know what he would do if he were too late and found him dead.

"To be honest, my main focus was escaping so I'm guessing that I ran pretty erratically... In other words, I could have come from any direction," Eric said, trying to remember any clues that could serve as an indication that they were getting closer. He wasn't even sure what they would find if they did manage to somehow get back to the waterfall, and found himself panicking slightly at the thought of the danger that awaited them. The two of them were injured and dehydrated and the others were missing, so they were pretty much defenceless. Heck, William didn't even have his own glasses on and could hardly see where he was going. Looking at him though, with Grell's glasses and chainsaw and his tie around his head, the feral appearance seemed to suit him somewhat and this gave Eric at least a little hope that they would stand a chance.

"What are you staring at?" William asked a little more angrily that he had intended, after which he hastily apologised.

"N-Nothing..." Eric replied, looking away.

"Slingby, if you have something to say just come out with it, nothing can surprise me anymore and your expression is starting to irritate me."

"Well, it just... I don't know, your appearance at the moment seems to suit you just a little bit too much, like... like you're meant to look like that or something," Eric said, wondering where he was going with this and wishing he had kept his mouth shut.

"That does not make a bit of sense, Slingby," William said, staring at Eric in a way that made him feel slightly uncomfortable. The way he held the chainsaw made it look like he was a frequent user of the weapon and Eric decided to just take a risk and ask a question that had been on his mind for a while.

"The chainsaw..."

"What?"

"I've heard so many stories about how you used to use one when you were younger, but I've never actually heard the true tale. I mean, why did you stop using it anyway?"

"Slingby, do you really think that the middle of a dangerous forest in a sweltering heat is an ideal place to discuss this?" William asked a little coldly, jumping over to the next tree, closely followed by Eric.

"Well-"

"Look how about this - if we manage to escape from here alive and get home safely, then I promise I will tell you more about it. Deal?" William asked, holding out his hand in preparation of a handshake.

"...Alright then." Eric said, shaking William's hand which felt cold despite the heat. He realised that he'd never even brushed past William before, let alone touched him, and he felt slightly awkward at the contact, despite its business-like cause. William appeared to experience a similar feeling, as he hastily withdrew his hand before wiping it a little too obviously on his shirt and making his way to the next tree.

"We'd better come up with some sort of action plan," said the dark haired reaper suddenly, changing the subject.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if it comes to choosing between who we have to save first, who do we go for?" William asked, trying to imagine what his co-workers were going through.

"That's... What kind of question is that?!" Eric asked angrily. "If anything, we should try to save them all at once!!"

"Let's be realistic here Eric," William said, taking them both by surprise due to the use of Eric's first name. "There are only two of us and three of them. Somebody is going to have to wait."

"But-"

"We need to think about this logically - of the three of them, who is the strongest and most likely to cope?" William asked, betting on Grell before remembering that he now lacked his chainsaw and was essentially defenceless.

"Well obviously not Alan! I mean, he has an injured leg and he's weak anyway-"

"Of course we must aim for him first, but what of the other two?" William asked. He could feel the weight of the chainsaw in his hand and vowed that he would not rest until every one of these monsters lay dead at his feet.

"I..." Eric started, but stopped when he realised he didn't know. "I think... I think we should just go there and see how events unfold," he gulped. "Who knows what we'll see? Or even who's still alive..."

"Indeed..." agreed William, adjusting Grell's glasses, which sat on his face. "Alright, let's just try and hurry. We'll follow the sound of rushing water when we pick it up, it can't be that far."

***

Grell sat in silence and stared at the William-like form that sat opposite him staring off into space. The creature had grown silent all of a sudden and now just sat, staring ahead; somehow this was creeping Grell out more than when it had been talking to him. The redhead wondered if the thing was perhaps asleep and this was how it looked while resting, but the occasional blink deterred him from believing this for too long. Despite being too afraid to move, Grell once again wondered if he could perhaps reason with this thing and gain its help in escaping and returning to the real William.

"I-Is something wrong?" he asked eventually, stuttering a little. The thing opposite him just continued to sit in silence, staring ahead. "It's so uncomfortable sitting here you know..." Grell said, trying to sound friendly. Again his words were met with silence. "...At least it's not as hot in here as it is out there! Maybe it's the water that surrounds the place, I don't know... It deflects the heat or something? Or maybe it's because we're in the shade, away from the sun... How do you guys sleep anyway what with it always being sunny?" Grell laughed nervously and almost cried out in fear when the thing finally moved and looked at him.

"You say the most pointless things," it said. "Just stop talking."

"Yes sir!" Grell said, clamping his jaw shut to avoid saying anything further that might anger it.

"I wish they'd hurry up already... I'm hungry."

"U-Umm... I have some berries in my pocket I think! If they're still there," Grell said spontaneously. "That might help?"

"Ha! You'd have to be insane to eat food from this place!" the creature said, grinning and laughing a little. "Anyway, I hate berries." Grell just sat in silence again, also wishing that 'they' would hurry up, except the 'they' he was waiting for consisted of a man with dark hair and possibly three others, all with glasses.

***

The air between them was tense as William and Eric continued making their way back to where they thought the waterfall was. They were both painfully aware that they could be attacked at any moment and were more than likely being watched, causing them to listen out for even the tiniest sound that seemed out of place. Just as they were about to stop and rest, they realised that the trees were beginning to thin out a little and had a strange, damp feel to them with a slimy coating that was cool to the touch. As they moved forward, they discovered that the reason for this was that they were finally approaching the waterfall, and they could hear the strong water crashing down as they moved closer.

"Well, we're here!" Eric shouted over the sound of the waterfall.

"Yes, we are," William replied. He suddenly felt very afraid and could feel an odd sensation in the air, almost like it was heavier... No, it was more like a low, inaudible pitch that caused his ears to feel tense. He wondered if this was perhaps the centre of the forest.

"Where on earth do we possibly begin?" Eric asked, staring at the crashing waters below and fearing that he might fall in.

"Perhaps it would be best if we just watched and waited," William said distractedly, catching a glimpse of something amongst the many high rocks and cavernous openings that towered above the river. He was sure he had seen something... something moving quickly, flitting between the shadows; a flash of brown-blond a sudden glint of sunlight reflecting from a pair of glasses...

"But-"

"Quiet!" Where had he seen it? "There!" William said suddenly, pointing to the strange, almost invisible form that suddenly slipped into a small opening in some rocks. "You saw that too didn't you? Tell me you did!"

"I-I might have," Eric stammered, unsure if his eyes were playing tricks on him or not. "But even if I did, it's miles away! How are we meant to cross the water to get to it?"

"I don't know, but I get the feeling that if we manage to get over there somehow we might find the others." Just as he said that, a loud cry filled the air, filled with pain before dying away and leaving a weak echo behind.

"That sounded like-"

"Ronald!" William cried. "RONALD! WE'RE COMING, JUST HANG ON!!"

"You idiot!" growled Eric. "Now they know we're here!"

"They knew anyway." William replied, starting to climb down the tree. "Hurry, we might be able to make it across the water before they get to us."

"You're insane-"

"Do you want to save Alan or not? It's obvious where they are, so come on!" William surprised himself with his enthusiasm and was shocked at his reckless behaviour. Still, there was no turning back now; if they didn't hurry then that cry may be Ronald's last.

 

TO BE CONTINUED


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Ronald lay on the floor, writhing in pain as the fangs of his copy sank deeper and deeper into his shoulder, eventually hitting bone and coming together before tearing away a huge lump of his flesh. Even despite his best efforts, the blond reaper could not stop himself from crying out in pain as he felt the blood flow from his shoulder, his arm turning limp as a result of the muscles being ripped. If he'd had a slim chance of escaping before, he had no chance now. Black spots started to fill his vision as he felt the monster climb onto his back, still chewing and gnawing away at him. "You're more delicious than I anticipated~" it half growled to him in a voice that made Ronald go numb with fear. He shuddered as he heard it gulp before it lowered its head to his shoulder and started to lick up the huge amounts of blood that came from it; a few more minutes and Ronald might end up dying of anaemia instead of being eaten. "I shall take my time with you," it whispered, and once again, the reaper could feel it grinning as its lips brushed against his skin. _Somebody... Please..._ Ronald thought, feeling himself start to fade away. 

It took all his energy just to avoid closing his eyes, because he knew that if he did, he might not open them again. He clenched his jaw as he felt a sharp stabbing pain towards the base of his spine, which he assumed was the hat pin, and he felt a slow tingle start to spread around his body before he suddenly turned cold. "This is just to stop you moving," whispered the copy. "I have manipulated the hat pin in such a way that although you are unable to move, you can still feel pain perfectly fine; it makes it more fun~" Ronald gasped as he felt the pin being pulled from his back suddenly before suddenly appearing in front of his left eye. "I always have enjoyed the idea of a lolEYEpop!" the monster giggled, moving the pin closer to Ronald's eye which was overflowing with tears. "And such a pretty one too..." Ronald could only watch in fear as the tip started to get closer and closer, until he could feel the cool metal brush the side of his eyeball. He daren't blink in case the movement should force it to stab into his eye, so he just lay there and stared at the deadly point. He was still bleeding profusely, and he watched as the pin started to blur and fade away as he lost consciousness. Despite this, he could still feel it as it moved forward; he could feel the blood starting to trickle from his eye then suddenly, he felt a huge weight being lifted from him and the pin was jerked away. He just managed to catch a glimpse of something black before he could hold on no longer and succumbed to the desire to faint.

***

In his cave, Grell had now resorted to half lying on the floor due to a combination of fatigue, dehydration, hunger and just general hopelessness. The William clone sat staring at the entrance, stiff backed and keeping vigil; it was clear that he was waiting for something. Just as the redhead was about to say something, a huge cry filled the air, one which was so loud that it could even be heard through the various rocks that covered the entrance. Grell winced as he realised that the cry had sounded a little too much like Ronald, and he realised in horror that help might not be coming for him after all.

"Hm, seems one of us just couldn't wait..." the clone said. "How selfish..." Suddenly, it turned to face Grell, causing the reaper to suddenly sit up straight again in fear. "Maybe a little bite wouldn't hurt..." it said, starting to move closer to Grell and causing his eyes to widen in fear.

"W-What?" Grell stuttered. "I thought you had to wait for the others or something-"

"Forget about them; they're probably too occupied right now to even remember we exist," the clone said sullenly, a faint look of anger and disgust appearing on its face."They always ignore me anyway." The fake William reached out to Grell, who closed his eyes in anticipation of some sort of pain, only to open them in surprise when the clone started to play with a strand of Grell's hair. "You have such pretty hair... I used to have nice hair you know, but not anymore."

"Umm...?" Grell said, unsure of what to make of this. Eventually he decided he would try to keep the thing calm and dared to let himself ask why.

“Why you ask? Well, since you’re going to die anyway, I’ll let you in to a little secret,” it said, moving closer until it could whisper into Grell’s ear. “The truth of the matter is, I’m actually female. Or rather, I was.” The clone sat back to stare at Grell who just looked back in confusion, unsure of what to say. “You look confused,” it said, smiling slightly. “Understandable I suppose.”

“I…um… what?” Grell asked, trying to imagine this William-like thing as a female.

“Let me guess; you’re wondering why I take the guise of a male if I’m a woman right? Well there are many reasons for that. Firstly, we are in fact essentially genderless in a sense, so it does not matter how I appear. Second of all, in case you have failed to notice, we are currently taking the form of your friends, all of which are male. And finally…” it paused.

“Finally?” Grell asked, intrigued.

“Finally… everyone else took a male form and I felt left out,” it said pouting, causing Grell to laugh in disbelief, which he instantly regretted.

“Find something funny?” the William asked angrily, grabbing Grell by the collar and glaring into his eyes. “I suppose you wouldn’t understand being male and all, well to hell with you! I may as well just kill you right now—”

“N-No!” Grell cried, feeling tears form in his eyes once more. “Please! I-If anything I’m going through a similar problem myself—”

“Just shut up,” it growled, throwing Grell against the wall before spitting on him. “I don’t want to hear any more from you.”

“But—”

“SILENCE!” it cried, slapping Grell across the face and causing a huge gash to appear on his cheek, which was quickly lapped up by the creature’s quick tongue. “I’ll give them another hour or so…. If they don’t make it, consider yourself dinner.”

***

The first thing Alan noticed when he opened his eyes was that he couldn’t move. No matter how hard he tried and struggled, he simply could not move. As his eyes adjusted to the gloominess, he realised why this was; he was wrapped up in some sort of tight cocoon, almost like a spider’s web, which was suspended rather fittingly in mid-air by a huge web-like structure. All around him were wisps of grey and strands of white, all of which were somehow attached firmly to the wall of what he assumed to be a cave. Managing to move his neck a little, Alan looked forward and saw what appeared at first glance to be the back of Eric, sitting facing away from him, unmoving.

“Eric?” Alan asked tentatively, suddenly becoming all too aware of the aching pain in his injured leg. The figure in front of him was unresponsive so he tried again. “Hello?” Once again, he received nothing in return and was about to ask again when he suddenly felt a cold chill on the back of his neck, almost like a breath.

Unable to move, he could only shiver in anticipation as he felt the strange coldness and tingling get closer until it moved around to the side of his face. Before he could turn to see what it was, a warm, almost furry feeling hand covered his eyes and a hissing voice whispered into his ear: “If you try to ssssee me, I’ll rip out your eyeballssss. Sssstare ahead and nowhere elsssse.” Alan felt the blood drain from his face, and nodded slowly at which point the hand released him and he sensed the creature slink back behind him.

“W-Who are you?” Alan stuttered, unable to stop shaking despite the fact that he couldn’t move. “Wha….What do you want?”

“Thatsss none of your businesss” the voice hissed, sounding almost snakelike.

“Is… Eric OK?” he asked, referring to the figure in front of him. The only response he received was a high pitched chuckle.

“E-Eric,” is managed though the giggles, “it wantsss to know if you’re OK!”

Suddenly the figure in front of them threw its head back to look at them while still faced away, its neck bending in an unnatural fashion until it was looking at them upside down. But that was not the thing that terrified Alan the most. No, what he noticed straight away was the set of eight, dark black eyes that looked at him from Eric’s face, unblinking and cold. Suddenly the creature grinned and Alan grimaced as he heard a crackling of bones as it propped itself up on its hands and feet and started to scuttle towards him like some sort of bizarre backwards crab. “I’m just fffiiiinneeee” it crackled, its voice distorted and sharp.

“W-What….” Alan began before he could take it no longer and passed out from the shock.

***

On the opposite side of the waterfall, a trail of blood led from a cave opening and across the rocks until it reached the pool of blood that was dripping at William’s feet with every step. In his arms lay a bloodied and gravely injured Ronald who, despite having his wounds tied up with fabric as best they could, still bled profusely from the chunks which had been ripped from him. William was sweating with both the exertion of carrying the reaper and the heat which perpetually surrounded them.

“Do you want a break?” Eric asked concernedly. “I can carry him for a while—”

“No, we have to…. Keep moving…” William grunted, struggling more and more with each step, his chainsaw slung over his shoulder.

“But…”

“I’ll hear nothing from you Slingby. We must find a safe place to keep Ronald so we can rescue the others as fast as possible,” William said matter-of-factly.

“You know that’s impossible right?” Eric said, sighing.

“Nothing is impossible Slingby,” replied William. “If it were, Ronald wouldn’t be lying in my arms right now.”

“Yes but still—”

“Be silent—” William started to interrupt when suddenly the ground gave way beneath his feet and he started to fall over the edge of the ledge, Ronald falling from his arms in the process. Just as he was about to fall completely, Eric managed to reach out and grab William’s collar, suspending him in mid-air above the crashing water. They both watch in horror as the unconscious Ronald fell, landing on a small ledge not far below them, the ground already turning red from the blood. “God damn it…” William said through gritted teeth.

“I told you to let me carry him…” Eric said, only to receive a cold stare from William. Saying nothing, he pulled the dark haired reaper back up onto the ledge and they both looked down at Ronald’s body before looking at each other.

“Now what?” they said simultaneously.

***

Back at the dispatch, a few reapers had begun to notice the absence of William and his collection of supervisees. At first, only one or two had noticed their absence, mostly due to papers not being handed in, or empty seats in the cafeteria, but as time had gone on, more and more had noticed their disappearance. Eventually, after a couple of weeks had passed, one brave reaper decided to go and question their superiors. The other reapers waited in anticipation to hear the news, but the one who had went to ask never came back. He was sent away on ‘official business’. After that, no one asked again and the dispatch continued to function as if nothing had happened, albeit with a more tense feeling in the air.

More time passed and anyone that asked seemed to either disappear or say nothing when they came out of the office, instead changing the subject. Even the legendary Undertaker could provide no new information, despite some reapers seeking him out in secret to see what he knew. The fact of the matter was, the reapers had gone and no one knew where. And there was nothing they could do about it. The superiors said nothing and eventually, the reapers said nothing too. Everyone just remained silent and carried out business.

You see, time passes differently in and out of the forest. What seemed like a few days for the reapers trapped within was actually months outside. And with each passing moment, the memories of William and company got further and further away from everyone’s minds until almost no one remembered them at all. And in a way, that was almost more terrifying than being trapped within the forest itself, for there is nothing worse than being forgotten by the people closest to you.

***

Ronald could feel and see nothing but darkness and pain. He was aware of the cold ground beneath him, but could do nothing about it. He just lay, unmoving, unable to open his eyes, and with an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach that nothing was coming to save them after all. Nothing and no one. They were all going to die here.

TO BE CONTINUED~


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Grell did not know how much time had passed since the creature had struck his face, but he knew that it must have been a fair while, since the blood from the cut had begun to dry and clot. He shivered in fear as he remembered the monster’s earlier warning of what would happen should its cohorts not turn up in time. The whole time since, they had sat in silence and he found himself wondering briefly if the creature had fallen asleep. He didn’t dare to test his hypothesis however, instead listening out for any sounds of rescue.

Eventually, the fake William – which had been sitting in front of him, with its back turned to him in silence – shifted a little, and Grell heard a stifled yawn escape its lips. Perhaps it had been asleep after all. “Mmm… I wonder how long it’s been?” it mumbled to itself. “You can never tell in this godforsaken place.” Grell just continued to remain sat in silence, afraid to say anything for fear of its reaction. Eventually, it turned around to face him again and Grell noticed that one of its eyes was a strange milky white colour rather than the green it had been. “What’s wrong with you then, why aren’t you saying anything?” is asked. Grell continued to say nothing until the creature eventually growled a little angrily and stood up. “I’m going for a glimpse outside,” it said. “Don’t go anywhere… Not that you can anyway,” it grinned before walking over to the entrance and somehow appearing to slip through a crack in the rock.

At least, that’s what it looked like. Grell was unable to tell, because suddenly the air around the creature had become fuzzy, pixelated almost, and the creature appeared to flicker in and out of existence before suddenly not being there anymore. It didn’t help that Grell lacked his glasses, but even so, he could still feel a strange itching in his eyes which caused him to blink rapidly. It took him a few moments to realise that he was actually alone now and there was nothing to stop him trying to escape, yet part of his mind prevented him, as he knew that even though he thought he was alone, he probably was not. Heck, this might even be a test to see how he reacted! So instead, he just sat up straight and kept his vision trained on the gap where the fake William had just left.

***

Alan awoke to find that his whole body felt numb and that he had difficulty keeping his eyes open. Every time he did manage to open them, the room around him seemed to spin and he could see nothing but blurry shapes fading in and out of focus. Realising that he felt sick every time he opened his eyes, he instead opted to just keep them closed. “Where… am…” he begun, before suddenly remembering the horrific thing he had seen before he had fainted. Had that really been Eric scuttling towards him with eight black, beady eyes?? Surely not! Again, he opened his eyes, this time trying to focus and see if there was any sign of the awful creature. Again, he saw nothing but fuzzy shapes and a swirling room.

Groaning, he tried to move again, but found that no matter how hard he tried, he simply could not; he couldn’t even feel the pain in his injured leg any more. After what felt like an eternity, he opened his eyes again only to have them met by a pair of worried looking green ones. “E-Eric…?” he called out, weakly, trying to keep his eyes open again.

“Alan! You’re awake! You’re alive!” Eric exclaimed happily.

 

“Th-Thank god you’re here!” Alan said, feeling tears form in his eyes. “I—” Alan stopped suddenly as he realised that he was looking at Eric’s face upside down. “Why… are you upside down?” he asked hesitantly, feeling a sense of dread forming in his gut.

 

“I’m not upside down, you are,” Eric replied, and Alan noticed a slight hiss developing in his voice. “Must be why you’re so dizzy. Let’s get you the right way up, shall we?”

 

“I… Of course…” Alan replied, confused. He closed his eyes and felt what seemed through the numbness to be four pairs of arms grab onto him and start to rotate him. “Thanks…” Wait a minute… four pairs of arms? That can’t be right… he realised. Before he had time to question it further, he felt something pierce him somewhere – though he couldn’t quite tell the exact location – and felt the blood start to run from his face.

 

“Don’t worry Alan, everything will be alright soon,” Eric hissed. “Just a little while longer.”

 

From a mixture of both the numbness and confusion, Alan found himself unable to say anything, instead just nodding in agreement at something and closing his eyes again before submitting to the fatigue that washed over him.

***

Back at the waterfall, Eric and William were still looking down at the bloodied and unconscious Ronald in dismay.

 

“Well, one of us is going to have to go down and get him,” Eric said, matter-of-factly.

 

“You don’t say…” William replied, almost sarcastically. “Well,” he continued, “since I dropped him, it seems only fair that I should have to retrieve him, don’t you think?”

 

“On the contrary, I think that’s a very good reason for you NOT to retrieve him! Don’t worry, leave it to me,” Eric said determinedly. “In fact, while I’m doing this, you could carry on and try to rescue Alan; we don’t have a lot of time to waste.”

 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Slingby, you can’t expect me to let you try and retrieve a fully grown man from a small, dangerous ledge all by yourself. And an injured man at that!” William said in disbelief.

 

“Well for god sake think of something, people are dying here!” Eric yelled. “I’m just trying to come up with a way to fix this, what have you done for the last ten minutes except grumble to yourself?”

 

“If you insist on knowing,” William said calmly, yet Eric could detect the hint of anger in his voice, “I have been trying to figure out a way down there that won’t put our own lives in danger as well as those of everyone else.”

 

“And have you figured out anything?” Eric asked, somewhat hopefully and mildly apologetic.

 

“…No,” William replied in exasperation, removing Grell’s glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Every possible route I’ve went through in my mind results in at least one of us falling to our deaths or getting seriously injured.”

 

“Great…” Eric said, wistfully. “If only Ronald wasn’t so injured himself…” he sighed.

 

“Well, at least we managed to get to him on time…” William reminded him. “Let’s hope the same can be said about the others.”

 

“We haven’t heard or seen anything for a while now,” Eric said quietly. “I hope it’s not too late.”

 

“Try not to give up hope just yet, Slingby,” William said, placing a comforting hand on Eric’s shoulder and causing them both to recoil slightly at the unexpected contact. Once again, William’s hand felt surprisingly cool. Cold both inside and out… Eric thought, allowing himself to smile a little. “There we go, that’s the spirit,” William said, noticing the smile and removing his hand from Eric’s shoulder. “Let’s just say that everyone is alive until proven otherwise.”

 

“Yes, let’s…” Eric said, begging Alan to hang on a little longer. “However, if we don’t do something soon, poor Ronald will be proven otherwise.”

 

“This is true…” William said, regretfully. The two of them looked down at Ronald once more, pondering in silence.

 

“Do you think… perhaps…” Eric began before trailing off and shaking his head. “No, forget it.”

 

“What were you thinking?” William asked.

 

“No, it’s too awful to suggest,” Eric mumbled, going back to looking down at Ronald.

 

“Well given our current situation, all suggestions are welcome, Slingby,” replied William, wondering what Eric could possibly have been thinking that was so awful.

 

“You’d probably hate me for it…”

 

“Go on?”

 

“Well… could we possibly… leave him here?” Eric asked hesitantly.

 

“What.” William replied coldly, without even bothering to phrase it as a question.

 

“I told you you would—” Eric started before finding a chainsaw aimed at his throat.

 

“I should have known you were a fake,” William growled, preparing to cut Eric’s head off.

 

“No! Just hear me out!” Eric begged, holding up his hands. “Th-Think about it! He’s more likely to get harmed if we take him with us anyway; how can we expect to save the others if we’re carrying him around? There’s nowhere safe we can leave him, and those monsters would probably be too distracted chasing us to notice that he’s down there, if you think about it, it’s probably his best bet for survival! I mean, once we have the others, they could even help us retrieve him—”

 

“And if they’re gravely injured too?” William asked, loosening his grip on the chainsaw a little but not moving it away from Eric’s throat. “How do you intend to rescue him if we also have two other injured people to attend to? This ledge is narrow enough as it is!”

 

“Well then… I… Well, you see this is exactly the reason I decided against suggesting it…” Eric trailed off.

 

William sighed and moved the chainsaw away from Eric. “I guess I can see where you’re coming from Slingby, but it just simply cannot work…”

 

“No, I suppose it can’t…”

 

“It’s not a bad idea though, in theory,” William said, strangely cheerfully. “Just a shame that he’d probably be eaten by the time we got back.”

 

“W-What??” Eric asked, surprised, looking at William in horror. “What kind of thing is that to say?”

 

“I didn’t say that!” William replied, looking around with a concentrated expression.

 

“Don’t be ridiculous, I heard—”

 

“Be quiet, Slingby,” William angrily whispered, placing a hand over Eric’s mouth. “It’s close, I can feel it… that strange feeling in the air, the sudden tenseness… that odd, low pitched hum that is only just audible has changed slightly… surely you can sense it too?” He looked past Eric’s shoulder up to the slippery rocks behind him.

 

“Wow, you’re more clever than we thought!” a voice said behind William, causing him to turn suddenly and Eric’s eyes to widen in fear. There was nothing there.

 

“You saw it, didn’t you?” William asked Eric, removing his hand from his mouth. “What did it look like?”

 

“It… It looked like…” Eric stammered.

 

“Come on Slingby, we have no time to waste!”

 

“I…I-It looked like… you.”

***

After having counted what he deemed to be at least twenty minutes, Grell finally allowed himself to wonder if this perhaps was not a trap after all and that he should probably have been using this time to try and escape. With some hesitation, he lay down on the floor and began to try and work the rope around his neck towards his mouth in an attempt to perhaps bite through it and at least allow himself to move around the room.

It was only as he lay wriggling around like a defenceless worm that he remembered just how hungry he was, and he could hear and feel his stomach growling in pain. He thought back to what the creature had said about how only fools would eat food from this place, and decided against trying to reach the berries that still remained in his pocket. Part of him knew however that if he didn’t eat at least something soon, he might die from starvation rather than at the hands of one of those awful monsters, and he almost wasn’t sure which was worse.

Eventually, after much sliding around and perseverance, Grell got the tail-end of the rope into his mouth, almost strangling himself in the process. He noticed that the rope was elaborately tied to various rocks to prevent escape while allowing the creature to pull on it and strangle him if it wished. Well not for much longer, he thought, starting to chew through the little length of rope he was able to hold in his mouth. Eventually, it snapped as desired, and he was surprised that such a place would use such a natural rope, rather than some sort of unbreakable material. Unless they wanted him to escape…

Slowly, and with some difficulty, Grell managed to get to his feet, the now freed noose still around his neck, and both arms still tied tightly behind his back. He decided that he would have to somehow find a sharp object to free his hands; a rock perhaps. To his dismay, he found this to be an impossible task, despite being in the middle of a cave surrounded by rocks and boulders. Sighing in despair, he instead made his way towards where the fake William had escaped and looked out through a small gap in the rocks. At first, the bright light almost blinded him and he found himself staggering back slightly, before squinting and attempting to look outside again. The whiteness eventually subsided and he saw that the cave was looking out over the top of the waterfall towards the forest. He could hear the water crashing just below and to the left slightly, letting him know that he was tucked away somewhere to the left of the waterfall, were one to look at it straight on. He wasn’t sure what he would do with this knowledge, but he was glad to have it all the same.

Shifting slightly to look out of a different gap, he was just about to retreat and search once more for something sharp when something shiny outside caught his attention, glinting in the sun. Moving closer to the gap and pressing himself up against it as much as he could, he squinted even more and looked harder in the direction of the reflection he’d seen. To his disappointment, he couldn’t see it any more, and was again about to retreat when it once more appeared. Searching for yet another gap, he found one and looked once more, only to realise that the shining object was appearing more and more frequently. It seemed to be waving from side to side as though someone were moving it. A help signal perhaps? A beacon of hope? No… this wasn’t being directed at him. From the movement of it, it almost looked like someone was fighting with it…

“My Death Scythe!” Grell suddenly cried out happily to himself. Straining even more to see, he noticed this time that there was a small smudge of black that seemed to be holding onto it and waving it at a similarly shaped smudge of black. Just below, there appeared to be another smudge moving slowly down the side of the rocks towards a small pool of red below. Although he could not tell from this distance, Grell grinned to himself knowing that at least one of those smudges must be William, coming to his rescue. But what of the red pool… he thought, shuddering as he realised that one of his comrades must have fallen.

Seeing William had given Grell a new lease of life and hope however, and he found himself starting to use his teeth to chip away at some of the small rocks that covered the entrance to the cave until he had made a small opening just large enough to crawl though. “I’m coming William…” he whispered through damaged and bloodied teeth. The adrenaline countering any pain that he should be experiencing, Grell squeezed himself through the gaps in the rocks, moving forward and looking for something to cut the rope with, only to suddenly fall forwards towards the crashing water below.

 

TO BE CONTINUED~


	17. Chapter Seventeen

William ducked hastily as the claws of his clone only just missed his throat. Below, Eric let out a yelp of surprise as he almost slipped on the damp rocks. Dodging once more, William aimed the chainsaw at the creature’s own neck, only for it to suddenly disappear and reappear behind him before digging its nails into William’s back.

“I can see why the redhead likes you,” it cackled. “You’re so feisty!”

“W-What have you done to Grell?!” William growled, feeling the pain slowly start to spread through his body from the claw marks.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” it grinned, licking some of William’s blood from its fingers, purposefully slowly. “Mmm, tasty. I’d always heard that the blood of those who were fighting for love was tastier than that of any other. Something about the hormones or adrenaline…”

“I am not in love with Sutcliff.” William said bluntly, eyebrow twitching. Despite the circumstances, he still wished to make that clear, so he could at least die with honour.

“Maybe not romantically, no…” the creature mused. “But you can’t deny that there is a somewhat… attachment, which is more than just that of colleagues…”

“We’re… well, we applied to the division together is all. We’ve known each other for a long time, even by reaper standards.”

Below, Eric could hear the conversation between them and realised that William was trying to stall the monster. Good job, he thought. Now to just pray that it worked. Ronald’s lifeless body lay so near yet so far, that Eric could almost touch him now, but not without falling into the crashing waters below. Even once he finally got to him however, Eric had no idea of what he planned to do. There’s was no way he’d be able to drag him back up alone, yet jumping into the river below was far too dangerous. He just hoped that William would have dealt with the creature by then and could offer some sort of help.

“You know, this is sort of symbolic is it not?” the creature was saying, swinging for William’s face and missing. “Fighting oneself is a symbol for fighting inner demons or something isn’t it? Not only that, but here you are dressed in some of Grell’s clothing, with his death scythe no less. I don’t think it gets more meaningful than this.”

“I can’t think what you mean,” William replied calmly, aiming the rotating blade towards the clone’s stomach. The pain in his back was affecting his precision a little, but he could tell that it was already subsiding; perhaps adrenaline was kicking in after all.

“I think you know fine well what I mean, but you’re just trying to stall me. Say, I wonder how little Grelly is getting on right now, trapped all alone in a cave…”

“Knowing him, I’m sure he’s just fine,” William grinned, though inside he was panicking. Grell would have been fine under any other circumstances, but without his glasses and death scythe, he was essentially helpless.

“…or at least he would be under other circumstances, am I right?” the creature said smugly. “You seem to forget that I am essentially you in this current form, I can tell what you’re thinking.” William’s face must have shown an expression or shock or confusion because the creature started to chuckle slightly and suddenly appeared right in front of William’s face so that it was staring into his eyes. “What, you think I was just trying to look pretty? I am you, William. I am your memories, your appearance, heck, even these glasses are yours,” it said, removing the glasses it was wearing and polishing them slightly.

“So that’s where my glasses went…” William mumbled to himself.

“Indeed, in fact it’s crucial to have something from the person we are trying to imitate to maintain that form, otherwise we can only hold that disguise for a few minutes at most, and even then it’s not perfect.”

William thought back to when they had first seen the creatures, with their black holes for eyes and their weird shimmering forms and realised that this must be why they had appeared like that to begin with.

“Of course, as you can see, after a while the disguise starts to…falter, shall we say,” it remarked, pointing at the eye that had gone milky white. “Which is why we need to obtain more parts of that person. In other words… give me your skin.” The monster grinned once more, but this time it spread until it filled half, then a third, then almost its whole face, leaving William looking at a massive pair of jaws stuck onto what still looked like his body, which were rapidly coming towards his head. Thinking fast, William jumped onto the next ledge across, the teeth only just missing him but snipping off the very top of his hair.

“Guess I needed a haircut anyway…” he said, tightening the tie around his head which had come loose in the process. Stepping back, he raised Grell’s chainsaw and prepared himself for the next attack.

“Just die already!” yelled the creature, snapping forward once more. As it lurched towards him, William twisted the blade a fraction and caught it between the jaws of the beast, trapping its mouth open and stopping it from going any further. Before it could react, he twisted the blade once more, turning it on to full speed and plunged it into the throat of the thing before him, causing teeth to shatter and blood to start spraying in all directions. He kept pushing forward until the blade was deep inside its body and his arms were almost inside the thing’s mouth.

Eric had finally reached Ronald when he heard an ear-shattering shriek that filled the whole valley. Just as he looked up to see what had caused it, a wave of blood came down the side of the rocks and washed over him and the already bloodied Ronald before he watched as what appeared to be a shredded William fell over the side too, passing in front of him and into the rocks below. Up above, a similarly blood-soaked William walked slowly over to a pair of glasses which lay on the ground. Carefully, he picked them up, gave them a quick polish with a rare piece of ‘clean’ clothing and placed them on his face, carefully tucking Grell’s glasses away in the process.

***

Grell cried out and closed his eyes as he braced himself for the rocks and cold water that would soon be washing over him. His cry was cut short however as the rope around his neck got snagged on a nearby rock, jerking him back and causing him to be suspended from a noose in the air. He felt the blood rush to his head almost instantly, his eyes bulging and temples throbbing, and a part of him wished that he has stayed where he was. Thinking fast, he managed to swing from side to side until he got some footing, suspending himself on the tiniest ledge that could possibly exist; so tiny that one wrong movement would send him hanging again. As he gasped for air, he cursed this forest for causing such things as eating and breathing to become a necessity, when normally he would not need to bother if he didn’t want to.

He looked over to where he had seen the black smudges and the glint of his chainsaw and saw that one of them had reached the injured figure at the bottom, while the other two were locked in combat. He was just about to call out, having nothing left to lose after all, when an ear-shattering shriek filled the air, causing him to almost lose his balance. He watched as one of the figures seemed to explode, shooting blood everywhere before falling into the water below. He could only hope that it was not Will that had fallen. Taking a deep breath, he once more prepared to call out but decided against it when he realised that the black smudge appeared to be staring straight at him. If only he had some way of communicating… The smudge raised a hand in what seemed to be a wave and Grell responded with just a nod; it was all he could do. He watched as the smudge seemed to shout something down to the one below him and pointed in his direction, before starting to climb down the rocks in order to presumably help him carry the fallen one to safety.

***

“He’s over there, I can see him!” William called down to Eric, as he started climbing to join him.

“For all you know it could be a trap…” Eric said, doubtfully, wiping blood from his eyes. “Also, what do you think you’re doing? We’ve discussed this – there’s no way that this ledge can support the both of us. You’re going to have to help me pull him up somehow.”

“But how? There’s nothing to…” William went quiet for a moment, thinking. “Rope.”

“Yes, rope would be useful, but where are we going to get some of—”

“Grell. I told you I saw him, it looked like he was tied to something, with what appeared to be rope. If you hang on just a little longer, maybe I can make my way over there and rescue him and then he can help us out with Ronald too.”

“B-But what about Alan?!” Eric spluttered, angrily. “While we’re doing all this, he might be in danger!”

“Yes, might, but right now we can see two people that are very much in danger, both of whom could be helped almost simultaneously. Besides, the more we argue about this, the more time we’re wasting!”

Eric went silent for a while, thinking this over. “…Fine. But what are we supposed to do here in the meantime?” he asked, gesturing to the still unconscious Ronald.

“I don’t know. Sit tight and try not to draw attention to yourselves? You have your scythe right?”

“I think so… though I don’t know if I’ll be able to materialise it very easily in this place.”

“Well, if you can hide it, you’re probably able to get it back… Hopefully,” William said, wondering where his own precious scythe could be. He had tried calling it back multiple times to no avail.

“So, how are you planning to get over there?” Eric asked, lifting Ronald up slightly to move him into a more comfortable position. It was clear from just a quick glance that he was badly injured, though it was difficult to tell which blood belonged to him and which to the creature. “We could really do with being rinsed off here,” Eric added when William didn’t reply. “If anything it would help identify where his major wounds were so I could rebind them a little tighter.”

“The waterfall,” William said, ignoring him.

“What?”

“I’m going to climb the waterfall to get to Grell,” said William. “Not only will it provide me with cover if I hide behind it, but there seems to be a lot more foot and handholds there than the cliff face; although it will be wet, I’m probably less likely to fall if I go via that.”

“That’s… Well, I guess that’s actually a fairly reasonable plan,” Eric said hesitantly. “But just how are you planning to get to the waterfall from here exactly?” The reaper gestured to the dangerous drop below and the thin ledges above them.

“I’m going to swim,” William said matter-of-factly. “I will climb down to the bottom of the cliff face and make sure I avoid the rocks at the bottom, and then I will swim to the waterfall and climb it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Eric cried. “The current is far too strong and flowing in completely the opposite direction to where you want to go, and there are rocks everywhere at the bottom, it’s a foolish plan!”

“Well I’d rather take my chances in the water than exposed out in the open as we are now,” William said quietly. He knew his plan was risky and could quite possibly cause more harm than good, but he had no choice; there just simply was not enough space to walk above. When they had started walking in this direction, it had seemed hopeful and there appeared to be a fairly decent footpath this far up, but as they had went along it had seemed to get narrower and narrower until there was almost nothing left, and William suspected that the scenery may have been changing around them, rather than them being incorrect. They were definitely being messed with, and although it seemed dangerous, the river was at least ground level and may in fact be the safest place to be at this moment. “Just believe in me,” William said and started climbing down until he was next to Ronald who leant against the cliff. “Knox… No, Ronald, just hang on a little longer okay? You can do this,” he said quietly, wiping some blood away from the reaper’s forehead and giving it the most lightest kiss one can imagine – the kind of kiss someone that never even shakes hands with people, let alone shows this much affection would give.

“William…” Eric could feel tears forming behind his eyes and struggled to hold them back. Something bad was going to happen and he knew it; this was William after all and he would never do something like that unless he expected either to not return or to be gravely injured.

“Sli— Eric…” William nodded, and Eric noticed that he too had tears forming at the corners of his eyes. He held out a hand which Eric took and they shook hands for what both of them hoped would not be the last time. “If I don’t make it…

“You’re going to William. Like you just said, believe in yourself,” Eric said, looking William sternly in the eye. “Now go, you can do this.”

William nodded solemnly and continued to climb down the cliff face.

TO BE CONTINUED~


	18. Chapter Eighteen

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Grell watched hopefully as one of the shapes in the distance gestured in what seemed to be his direction. After a while, he realised that the figure had begun to descend the cliff face, leaving the other two behind. A part of him was worried at this – were the two figures being left behind okay? Was the person about to jump into the river going to hurt themselves? – But another part of him was just relieved that help was coming.

He noticed that the person moving towards the river seemed to be injured; their movements were jerky and they and frequently stopped. Perhaps it was just general movement between hand and foot holds, but based on the amount of blood covering the area, Grell suspected that the fight had resulted in more than just a few scratches. He shifted slightly, trying to maintain his own footing, lest he end up strangling himself before help even had a chance to arrive.

***

William could feel the pain in his back with every movement he made. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, each bodily shift caused agonising pain to ripple through him. He was unsure how deeply the monster had cut, but he knew that it must have broken at least a couple of ribs. He was almost at the bottom of the cliff now. Above him, Eric looked down worriedly, although it was getting harder and harder to see his face due to both the distance and the mist rising from the rushing water below. Now that he had almost reached the river, William was not entirely sure what his next move would be. For one thing, he planned to wash the monster’s blood from himself as soon as he could. He also knew that he would try his hardest to avoid the jagged rocks below and try to make his way out to the middle of the river so that he could attempt to swim upstream with as few obstacles as possible. Despite Eric’s concerns, William was actually a reasonably strong swimmer and had every confidence that he would be able to make it, injuries or not.

Taking a deep breath, the dark haired reaper braced himself against the cliff face before pushing himself forwards into the water. He felt a jagged rock miss him by inches as he quickly became submerged. The cool liquid rushing over him felt surprisingly soothing as it entered his wounds and washed the blood of the monster away. As he re-emerged, he looked up to where he had left Eric and the unconscious Ronald, but his view was obscured by the steep angles and splashes from the river. He pushed his hair away from his eyes and began to make his way towards what he could only hope was Grell.

***

“It… It hurts…” Alan whimpered. He could feel the blood draining from his body, and he was sure that he didn’t have long left before he closed his eyes for good.

“Hmm… That’sss bad,” hissed the fake Eric. “I was ssssure I had applied the numbing agent. Oh well, more fun for me,” it said before letting out a deep and guttural cackle. The brown haired reaper could feel tears forming in his eyes, but tried to supress them lest he lose even more fluids.

“W-Why…?” Alan groaned. He still couldn’t quite comprehend what was happening to him. He knew this beast couldn’t really be Eric, but if it wasn’t, then what was it?

“Shiftersss have to eat too, you know,” hissed the monster, moving behind Alan. Alan winced as he felt something bite into his back. He would have let out a gasp if he had had the energy. “Once I’m done with you, the others get to consssume your shell. Nothing gets wasssted here,” it said matter-of-factly.

“My… shell?” Alan asked, closing his eyes. He could no longer find the strength to blink.

“Why your ssskin and bonesss of courssse. Much too brittle for myssself.” As the creature said this, Alan could detect more creatures entering the room. He was too tired to look however. “Not yet, friendsss,” growled the monster. “I’m ssstill enjoying my meal.” This statement was met with what sounded like a few irritated growls, and Alan could sense things scuttling off into the corners of the cave. Watching. Waiting.

_Why Eric?_ Alan wanted to ask. But he found he could no longer produce speech. _Conserve all energy,_ he thought to himself. _Help has to come soon. It has to._

***

Eric cradled the bleeding body of Ronald in his arms. The vile beast had really done a number on him. Eric wanted to wash the red liquid from the unconscious reapers wounds, but he daren’t risk scaling the cliff with such an injured person. He sighed in frustration. He wished he could be doing more right now instead of just sitting here waiting for something to happen. _Please be ok, Alan…_ he begged internally. He wondered if Ronald would ever wake up. The blood at least seemed to have stopped flowing for now, but this did little to ease the situation.

The bearded reaper looked around briefly. They were stuck on a very small outcropping. One wrong move and they would both fall to the rocks below. Speaking of which, he wondered whether William had made the jump safely. It was hard to tell from here whether he had swum away or was lying at the bottom in a big bloody mess. Either way, Eric figured he should do something sooner or later as sitting here wasn’t going to solve anything.

As he was pondering what to do, he felt a strange tickle on his left shoulder. Turning to see what it was, he saw a stray spider crawling down his arm. He quickly reached out and squished it. “Darn bugs…” he muttered, before turning back to Ronald. The blond reaper was sitting straight up, unnaturally so with a wide grin plastered across his face. Jagged fangs protruded from the gash that was his mouth, but this wasn’t what startled Eric the most. It was the large gaping holes that covered the upper half of Ronald's face, where his eyes should be. Blood poured from the sockets as Ronald’s whole body began to twitch.

“H-Holy shit!” Eric gasped, backing away as far as he could from the monstrosity. Slowly, it got closer to him, the smell of rotting flesh filling his nostrils until he felt that he might faint.

“Sh-Shouldn’t… have… killed the…b-b-bug…” Ronald crackled disjointedly. It was like the voice was inside Eric’s head rather than his ears. “Nnnn-Nnnooot niceee” it clicked, until it was right in Eric’s face. “Punish…” it said, jaw opening unnaturally wide until it was the size of Eric’s head. Eric squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the fangs clamp down, cracking his head between the strong mouth of the beast.

“ARGH!” Eric screamed, suddenly opening his eyes to an unconscious Ronald still lying next to him. His clothes stuck to him with sweat and he could feel his heart beating faster than it ever had in his life. A dream? But… How? Surely he hadn’t fallen asleep? And besides that, it had gotten no darker. _Hotter though…_ he noted, before remembering that it never seemed to get dark in this godforsaken place. Perhaps it was just another illusion by _them_ in an attempt to make him give up Ronald. Well it wasn’t going to work. He checked Ronald over and found nothing new apart from slowly drying blood from the reaper’s cuts. Eric let out a deep sigh of relief and exasperation as he tried to see if he could summon his scythe after all. No such luck.

***

Grell watched in joy as the figure that had jumped into the river got closer and he realised that it was William. He was going to be saved! Unless it was just another cruel illusion… but if this were the case, then why would the figure be moving so frantically and with so much purpose? The red reaper allowed a smile to creep over his lips for the first time in a while. Carefully, he adjusted his position so as to avoid hanging himself before his knight in shining armor arrived.

Below, William fought against the current as he slowly made his way forward. It was a lot more difficult than he had expected it to be, and he still wasn’t entirely sure what he intended to do once he reached Grell. Still, that was a thought for the future, this was now. As he continued, he could feel his water soaked clothes weighing him down. _But I’ll be damned if I rescue Grell naked,_ he thought to himself. He kicked harder and harder. His progress was slow, but it was progress. The pain in his back didn’t help matters much either. Every kick sent a shock of pain up his spine, but rather than let it slow him down, William saw it as a reminder that he was alive; he was moving.

He was beginning to get unbearably thirsty – had it gotten warmer? – but he refused to let himself drink anything from this place. He figured the thirst was probably an illusion anyway, just as the hunger surely was. He splashed his face into the water briefly as he started to feel himself getting dizzy from the heat and exertion. Just a little further…

***

Alan felt himself fall to the floor with a thump. Slowly, he could feel his limp form being dragged along, before the thick binding around him came loose. At the very least this allowed a bit more circulation of what blood he had left, but he suspected this would not last long. Excited chatters surrounded him as he felt hundreds of tiny claws and teeth pulling at his clothes and brushing against his skin.

_This is it for me,_ he realised. There was nothing more he could do. Nowhere he could go. Hundreds of small fangs sunk into his flesh. Before suddenly retracting as a huge hiss filled the room.

“Tainted!” the voices cried as they shrank away from him. “His meat is not pure! Something is… wrong with him.”

Alan could hear the Eric clone move over to him. “I sussspected as much…” it growled. “Something tasssted off… Thisss one is a freak!”

“Freak!” the soft voices yelled.

“Ssssomething dark resides in thisss young one’sss soul….” the monster proclaimed. “It can’t ssstay here…” Alan felt himself being lifted again, this time by what felt like a large pair of hairy arms. “We don’t want it…”

Alan felt himself falling suddenly, and he realised he could feel air against his skin. He was… outside? He opened his eyes just barely enough in time to see rocks slowly rushing towards him.

 

TO BE CONTINUED~


	19. Chapter Nineteen

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Eric had lost track of how long it had been since William descended into the water below, but he figured time had no meaning here anyway. Still, he calculated that it had been at least half an hour or so, and with all the mist rising from the water, it was impossible to tell if any progress had been made. His concern for Ronald grew with every passing second; he had lost a lot of blood and showed no signs of regaining consciousness. Eric shifted their position for the umpteenth time since William had gone – rocks were unsurprisingly not very comfortable. Furthermore, he wanted to make sure clots weren’t forming in Ronald, as it would be even more dangerous to his health were they to do so. On the plus side, the bleeding had completely stopped by this point and Eric wondered if Ronald’s body were somehow regenerating blood now. _Wishful thinking…_ he thought to himself.

The bearded reaper sighed and closed his eyes. He wondered what was happening back at the dispatch. Surely they had realised that they were missing by now. Were they sending help? Had they given up? In fact, he wondered, had time even passed at all since they had become trapped here? After all, it never seemed to get darker, only hotter. He felt a pang of sadness as he wondered once more where Alan could be. He had promised he would protect him, and yet he had already let him down on more than one occasion since they were sent on this fated mission. He promised himself that if they ever managed to find each other, he would do everything in his power to never leave his side again, even if it annoyed the brunette slightly, as he so often complained it did. He smiled to himself momentarily. Alan would often complain at his lack of independence, but Eric knew that deep down he appreciated the company. Ever since he had become ill, he hadn’t been able to do as much as he used to, and Eric was always willing to help him out where he could. _If only I could help him now…_ thought Eric, his smile fading almost instantly.

Suddenly, there was a flash of something falling past his line of vision into the water below. Eric flinched in surprise before leaning to look over the edge, readying himself for another attack. The mist was too thick to see through, but he waited tensely looking over the edge for what felt like an eternity. He wanted to go and investigate, yet he couldn’t leave Ronald here by himself. He wondered for a moment if he should just take a chance and throw both himself and Ronald into the water, but quickly dismissed the idea when he thought of the inevitable damage it would cause. He leaned back from the ledge and cursed under his breath, hoping that whatever it was, it had nothing to do with them. Although he wasn’t even fooling himself by thinking so.

***

Cold… so cold… and… wet… 

Alan could feel the water rushing around him as he hit it. Amazingly, he had somehow missed the rocks during his descent and seemed to have landed in the river. 

_I need to… oxygen… I…_

Something brushed against Alan’s face and he could feel the rope (web?) that bound him being untied. He could feel himself being dragged somewhere and noted that he had strangely lost the need to breathe. He felt oddly serene and relaxed, and he realised that the pain in his body seemed to be disappearing slowly… Alan opened his eyes and realised that he was somehow on the back of a horse. Yet, as he tightened his grip on the beast’s mane, he noted that it felt strange somehow. Slimy, almost seaweed-like. Something in the back of his mind told him that he should try to escape, but the relaxing and calming feeling was too alluring for him to truly care. He closed his eyes again and let himself be carried off by the strange water-horse.

***

William’s legs were getting heavier and heavier, and he couldn’t help but notice that it felt like something was grabbing onto him and trying to pull him under. Reaching down into the water, he felt what appeared to be seaweed floating about beneath him, constricting his movement. Wondering why he had not noticed this before, he continued moving forward. He considered trying to use the chainsaw, but figured it would only get tangled up.

Suddenly, the dark haired reaper spotted a figure in the distance in front of him, shrouded by mist. It was hard to tell, but at first glance it appeared to be that of a woman, sitting on some rocks with her legs submerged in the water. _Grell…?_ William pondered briefly, before realising that the figure was too shapely to be the redhead. As he got closer, the ‘woman’ turned towards him and he could hazily make out that she was naked. William felt his face redden slightly as he wondered what he should do. Averting his eyes slightly, he decided to call out.

“Uh… *Ahem* Excuse me? Miss? Are you all right?”

He was met with silence and wondered if he was imagining the whole thing because of the heat and dehydration. However, as he continued forward, he could see that she was smiling at him. “Hello?” he called again. His yell was greeted by a giggle, which he found to be somewhat irritating. Yet despite this, the laugh seemed to resonate through him and he got a strange tingle of happiness as a result. _How odd…_ he thought. He blinked and the figure was suddenly gone. He was about to call out again when he felt a pair of arms embrace him from behind. More giggling.

“W-What do you think you’re doing—” William’s protests were cut off suddenly by a kiss from the mysterious woman who seemed to have made her way in front of him without him noticing. He pulled away instantly and began to scold her when he realised how beautiful she was. She had glowing, golden hair and the brightest blue eyes he had ever seen. “A…Angel…?” William stammered looking into her eyes. Her skin was pale and soft, and shone like silk, her lips were as red as strawberries. 

“Come…” she whispered, reaching down and taking his hand. William said nothing as she started to walk him into the middle of the river, where the water was deeper and harder to stay afloat in. The dark haired reaper only nodded and followed.

***

From his position, Grell could now clearly see that it was indeed William who was coming to his rescue. His excitement soon turned to fear however as he watched William suddenly stop and appear to be talking to someone. Unfortunately the waterfall blocked his view of the someone, but not for long. Grell watched in horror as William started walking hand in hand with what could only be described as living kelp. Its body was a multitude of greens and coated in what appeared to be a thick slime. Perhaps worse was the fact that with every step, Grell could see that its legs ended in large hooves, giving it the appearance of an upright horse. The redhead stared in horror as it started to lead William into waters too deep for him to stay afloat in. Grell cursed and did the only thing he could think of. He mustered all the remaining strength he had and called out, “WILL!!”

William looked up as Grell’s cry echoed throughout the cliffs. Through the mist, he could just about make out the silhouette of his friend. “Grell…?” he said, snapping out of his trance momentarily. However, the woman quickly turned his head away and started whispering to him again and he was soon back to following her.

Grell watched in panic and wondered what to do. He realised with despair that there was only once thing he could do – jump and hope the rope would snap. If it failed, he would most likely die, but if he did nothing they would both die anyway. The redhead sighed and pushed himself against the wall as much as he could before he leaped.

***

Alan opened his eyes in what appeared to be yet another cave. This one however, had an eerie otherworldly glow about it that shone blue and green, and he realised that there was water in the middle. An underwater cave? He wondered. He sat up and realised that he had somehow recovered from his injuries. Strangely though, there seemed to be a pool of blood beneath him and a faded cut on his forearm, suggesting that something may have intended to kill him and then for some reason given up. He tried to pull himself to his feet but fell back down again. It appeared he was still weak. He wondered what had happened to the strange horse that had brought him here, but decided it was probably better to try and find an exit while he had the chance. Unfortunately it seemed like the only way out was through the water in the middle, which he realised was not a puddle but an actual pool, presumably with access to the river. Slowly, he made his way towards it on all-fours. The ground and walls were slippery and green with algae and he found himself stumbling frequently. 

Eventually, he made it to the water. It looked murky and deep and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to jump into it after all, especially in his weak state. Perhaps the horse had meant well by bringing him here? It had helped him to breathe, it seemed, maybe it was safe to stay? He hastily shook his head. He knew that this could not be the case, especially in this strange forest. Yet despite this, it seemed there was nothing else for him to do. He sighed and sat back away from the water's edge. He decided that he would wait until he felt a little less dizzy and then reconsider his options.

***

The water was up to William’s shoulders now and he could feel the strange seaweed getting tighter around his feet, almost seeming to drag him in. The woman continued to smile and giggle hypnotically, distracting him from the imminent danger. He knew inside that something was wrong, but this woman was so beautiful and so soft that he just couldn’t resist... her laughter resonated like bells, her hands were firm yet delicate… the way her hair hung about her face was like a halo. Then suddenly, William stumbled.

As he fell beneath the surface of the water, he looked towards the girl intending to ask her for help but was horrified by what he saw. For below the water, she was no beautiful maiden. Instead, long, green tinted haunches ended in sharp hooves with tendrils of sea weed floating about them. Almost as suddenly as it had begun, the spell was broken. William tried to rise to the surface, spluttering for air, but before he could make it, one of the hooves came crashing down on his back, pushing him further below and knocking the oxygen from his lungs.

 

TO BE CONTINUED


	20. Chapter Twenty

CHAPTER TWENTY

It was a stupid plan and Grell had known it before he pushed himself away from the ledge. If the rope had not broken before, why should it now? Still, he was out of options, and so found himself pushing and pulling against the wall a few times in an attempt to weaken the rope. If anything however, it just served to tighten it and eventually he just decided to jump. He held his breath and leaped as far out as he could, hoping that he might be able to catch it on a sharp rock or something. Instead, he felt the rough feeling of it constricting around his throat and he started to choke a little. Using what little strength he had left, he started to swing himself slightly from side to side, hoping he could cut the rope further up.

Suddenly, as if by some form of miracle, the rope broke and caused Grell to start falling towards the river below. As he landed in the water, he saw something glistening above him before a large saw fell from the sky and narrowly missed hitting him on the head. 

Back on the ledge a bit further along, Eric gasped in relief, still with his arm outstretched from where he had at last managed to summon and throw his scythe. He could only hope that Grell had landed okay, as he could not see him any longer through the mist generated by the river. He slumped back against the cliff face and felt his heart start to slow down again. He had tried for a long time to summon his weapon and had become increasingly panicked that he wouldn’t make it in time. He just prayed that the person he had helped to save was not a decoy and really was Grell.

***

William felt his lungs fill with water as the thing above him kicked him forcefully in his already injured back. _I guess this is it for me…_ he thought, resigning himself to his fate. Above him he could hear the once beautiful woman seem to whinny in glee before it dove into the water and wrapped itself around him, pulling him deeper still. William’s vision was staring to go black and he didn’t know whether it was due to passing out or merely the darkness of the water. Whichever it was, he knew he would not last much longer and seemed to feel himself start to float away from his body. _I wonder if this is how people feel when we reap their souls…_ he pondered. _Just a bit further and I’ll be amongst the stars…_

With almost suddenly clarity, William realised that he was not having an out of body experience, but that he actually was floating, and towards the surface at that. Before he could open his eyes, he felt the muggy warm air of the surface blowing on his skin and he realised that he had been saved… Somehow. He looked around him and saw a flash of red fly past and crash into the strange seaweed creature. “What…” William tried to speak but couldn’t get the words out and instead started to cough up some of the water from his lungs.

“WILL!” Grell cried, turning to face him briefly with tears in his eyes. “Thank goodness you’re alive!”

“Gre—” William coughed before trying to speak again. “S-Sutcliff… How, what…”

The red reaper was unable to respond before the slimy creature lunged at him again and he managed to deflect it using the saw he had picked up. Holding the scythe defensively, Grell was just about able to prevent the snapping jaws of the kelpie from coming into contact with his face. “Will, you need to run!” Grell screamed. He wasn’t sure how much strength he had left in him after everything that had happened

“L-Like hell I’m leaving without you,” William growled, managing to get some air back. Still heavily injured, he propped himself up on some rocks, slipping a little in the process and looked around for the chainsaw he had been carrying. After a few moments, he found it caught in some seaweed near the edge of the river. Without stopping to consider his options, the dark haired reaper lunged for it and managed to grab it before the force of the current pulled him away a little. “Sutcliff!” he yelled, raising the weapon above his head. 

Pushing the creature away slightly, Grell turned and was delighted to see his precious scythe still in one piece. With all his strength, he managed to shove the creature just hard enough to gain enough time for William to throw the chainsaw over to him. Throwing the saw to one side, Grell managed to catch his scythe before turning to the monster in front of him. A grin formed on the crimson reaper’s face as he brought his weapon to life. “Now things get serious!” he exclaimed, almost a bit too happily. 

Clinging to what he could, William watched from a bit further down as Grell swung his scythe towards the slimy creature, cutting into its neck and causing a thick, foul smelling black substance to spray from its wound. He was about to celebrate on Grell’s behalf when he remembered that the creature was made mostly of seaweed. Pushing himself back into the water, William made his way towards Eric’s discarded scythe, preparing himself for what was about to happen. No sooner had Grell started to cut away at the monster, than it extended its tendrils and tangled itself up in Grell’s chainsaw, preventing the blade from turning and taking him by surprise. As the creature started to pull Grell towards it, William lunged at the seaweed with the saw, cutting Grell and his scythe free.

“Will! You-”

“RUN!” William yelled, grabbing Grell by the hair and dragging him through the water. After taking a moment to right themselves, the two of them desperately tried to run through the river as fast as they could until they reached the relative safety of the bank. As soon as they got on land, the two of them ran faster than they thought physically possible until they were as far away from the river as they could handle before they collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

***

After taking some time to compose himself, Alan finally felt as though he had some of his strength back and once again made his way over to the pool of water in the middle of the cave on his hands and knees. Although he didn’t know how deep down he was, he figured that if he held his breath and just swam as fast as possible, he’s have more of a chance of surviving than staying here. 

As he was readying himself to jump into the water, a webbed hand suddenly appeared above the surface before clinging onto the edge of the pool. Taken aback and somewhat horrified, Alan pulled back a little and stared at the strange creature that started to emerge. This was not the horse that had brought him here, but was instead some sort of vile, reptilian humanoid that looked vaguely turtle like. A pool of water rested upon its head, almost mimicking the one it was emerging from. 

“It can’t be…” Alan muttered to himself. 

The creature pulled itself into the cave and sat, staring at Alan for a moment before grinning and revealing a set of very large, very sharp teeth in its beak-like mouth. “Greetings, tainted one,” it cackled.

“T-Tainted…?” Alan stammered, remembering the strange spider-like creatures saying something similar before they threw him into a river.

“But of course,” the creature replied. “Why do you think you are alive? We have a proposition for you.”

Alan sat staring for a moment, trying to compose his thoughts before speaking. “What proposition could a kappa possibly ask me?” he asked, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

“Oh,” the creature said, somewhat amused. “Someone knows their Japanese youkai…”

“Almost everyone has heard of the kappa,” Alan responded. He was trying desperately to remember what he had heard about this strange creature so he could think of a way to escape. It was something about the pool of water on their heads…

“That is good to hear,” it said, sitting crossed legged at the edge of the pool and eyeing Alan carefully. “Allow me to present my proposition. I wish nothing more than to devour your flesh, however some of the others feel that this would be… a waste.”

Alan flinched a little at the suggestion of being eaten. He said nothing and waited for the kappa to continue.

“As you are aware, you are going to die soon,” it said. “Not from being here, but from… that,” it said, referencing Alan’s illness. 

Alan nodded, unsure of where this was going.

“I am not sure of how much you are aware, but those who live here and take your form… They are not here of choice,” it said solemnly. 

“I know nothing of who or what you are,” Alan said. “I merely wish to return home.”

“But what if I were to inform you that there were no home to return to?” the kappa said. “Do you not find it somewhat odd that your superiors would send you on this mission and then not realise you were missing? That they would not come to search for you?”

“Of course that is strange,” Alan agreed. “But one suspects that they are merely unable to find us in this godforsaken place.”

The kappa sighed, almost sadly and gestured to Alan to come over to the pool of water. Reluctantly, Alan made his way over and looked into the pool. An image started to form on the water’s surface. In it, he saw some of his superiors together, laughing and drinking wine. “They are celebrating your disappearance,” the kappa said matter-of-factly. “When reapers get too curious; too ill, they dispose of them.”

“Y-You’re lying…” Alan said, trying to look away from the pool but finding himself unable to do so.

“Believe that if you will, but think about it,” the kappa said. “You are dying, you’re useless to them. The increase in souls, the fact that all of you just happened to crash at the same time… something isn’t right.”

“B-But we volunteered to go on this trip…” Alan said. “They couldn’t have planned it.”

“You just made it easier for them,” the kappa replied. “They would have found a way to get you to go no matter what.”

“But why—”

“The one way to cure your illness is rumoured to be souls is it not? Why risk one of your team members killing innocent humans for a cure that might not even exist? You all had the potential for corruption and that was something they couldn’t risk.”

“That’s ridiculous, there’s no way they’d do all this just for something that _might_ happen,” Alan said, starting to feel a bit frustrated.

“But of course there is more to it than just that,” the kappa continued. “The red one’s adoration for a demon, for one… and all that involvement with the Queen’s Watchdog…”

“That’s still not enough. You’re lying to me,” Alan said, tearing his eyes away from the celebratory scene in the water in front of him.

“At least listen to my proposition,” the kappa said, folding its arms.

Alan turned to face the creature and reluctantly nodded; there was no way he was escaping this without hearing it.

“We propose… That we let you escape. _However_ only the others escape – you must stay here and allow one of us to masquerade as you.”

“What! Don’t be ridiculous!” Alan yelled.

The kappa held up a scaly hand to silence him. “By staying here, you are cured,” the kappa continued. “Notice how your chest no longer pains you and how your wounds are healed. You can live forever as one of us and we will no longer play tricks on your mind. All we ask in return is that you give one of us the chance to re-enter the human world.”

“Why… Why would I allow one of you to do that?” Alan cried. “Besides, it’s not worth living if I can’t be with my friends; I’d rather die than stay here alone!”

The kappa sighed and shook his head. “I told them you would refuse… I wish I could tell you more about their reasoning and why they so desperately wish to enter the human world but I cannot. It is part of the rules that I can’t discuss what happened with the groups that enter, just in case they do manage to escape. Not that anyone ever has.”

“I don’t fully know what you are talking about…” Alan said. “But your ‘proposition’… I refuse it!”

 

TO BE CONTINUED~


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Overhead, the sun continued to shine down fiercely upon Grell and William, who both lay on their backs in the woods, gasping for breath. Even though they should have been under the cover of trees, the forest seemed to have parted above them specifically to allow the burning rays to reach them. After a while, Grell turned to William and promptly burst out laughing.

“W-Will! What on earth do you look like right now!” Grell exclaimed, referring to the fact that William had his tie tied around his forehead and was somehow wearing Grell’s glasses despite replacing them with his own earlier. He suspected he may have lost his during the ordeal but his memory was too hazy to recall what happened directly.

“I hardly think such statements are appropriate in the current situation,” William grumbled, keeping his eyes closed. Although his tone was cold, William found himself unable to express the sheer relief and happiness that Grell was somehow okay and alive. “I would return these to you,” he said, pushing Grell’s glasses up the bridge of his nose, “but then I would be completely blind.”

“I don’t mind, they suit you~” Grell teased. Despite his cheery demeamor, he could feel himself starting to shake slightly as the adrenaline wore off, and he felt the urge to cry rising every second. Finally, William sat up and turned to look at Grell, now without glasses and with cuts over most of his body.

“Sutcliff…” William mumbled, trying to suppress the tears that threatened to flow.

“Will…” Grell said, lip trembling. With a sudden franticness that could only come from surviving certain death more than once, the two reapers hastily embraced for a few seconds before William pulled back and stood up, adjusting his glasses.

“Y-Yes, anyway…” the dark haired reaper stammered, looking away into the forest. The last thing he wanted was for Grell to see how embarrassed he looked. In any other situation he’d probably have punched the redhead by this point. “Do you still have your chainsaw?” he asked.

“I do,” Grell said, not bothering to hide the blush that had risen to his cheeks after finally being hugged by William. “Do you still have what I assume to be Eric’s saw?”

“Right here,” William replied, holding it up. Finally, he turned to face Grell again after composing himself and offered a hand to help him up. “Don’t get used to this physical contact, I’m only helping you out because we’re both heavily injured.”

“In denial as always, my dear Will,” Grell grinned, taking William’s hand and pulling himself to his feet.

“We need to find a way to get to Eric and Ronald,” William said, ignoring Grell’s previous statement and letting go of his hand immediately. “Eric is currently stuck on a ledge over the river with a heavily injured Ronald by his side. They desperately need some help, and preferably some rope or something.”

“And Alan?” Grell asked, concern in his voice. “Do we know where he is?” 

William remained silent for a moment and seemed to be looking off into the distance. Eventually he just responded simply with “We have some ideas”.

***

Eric could feel himself growing somewhat dizzy from what he presumed was the heat and exhaustion. He also theorised that managing to summon his scythe and throwing it across the whole width of the river and then some probably hadn’t helped either. He wondered how long he should wait before he attempted to find his own way down; after all he currently had no idea if either Grell or William had made it and every second he waited here was more time for Alan to be injured.

As he was looking around for some sort of foot- and hand-holds, he suddenly felt Ronald twitching beside him. Hesitantly, he turned to look at the blond reaper, not sure of what to expect. To his surprise – or at least surprise compared to the horror that he was expecting – he saw Ronald looking at him through somewhat clouded eyes.

“E…ric…” he gurgled, blood pouring from his mouth with every syllable.

“Jesus man…” Eric muttered hastily moving to support his fallen comrade. 

“It… Hu…”

“It’s okay, you don’t need to talk,” Eric said, helping Ronald into a sitting position. “Is this okay? Just give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down…”

The blond reaper looked dazed for a moment and then grinned up at him, revealing bloodied gums and heavily swollen lips. “I’m…ali-li-live!” he stuttered, causing himself to start coughing again.

“Ronald, don’t—”

“I’M ALIIIIVE!!” Ronald yelled, despite the pain that rippled through his body. As he started to regain his senses, he could feel his lifeless arm hanging at his side and suddenly got the urge to puke from the taste of all the blood. Yet still he continued to grin as tears formed in his eyes. “I…I did it!” he stammered before throwing up.

***

Down below, Ronald’s cry of victory reverberated from the cliffs and into the forest, where it reached William and Grell’s ears. Although they only caught a part of what was said, they both could not help smiling as they recognised the sound of Ronald’s voice.

“Thank the heavens,” William said, with an unmistakeable tone of hope in his voice. Perhaps things would work out after all – they just needed to find a way to get back together. “Sutcliff,” he said suddenly, addressing Grell more formally at last. “I just remembered something – do you have any of the rope left that was used to bind you?”

“I’m afraid I left it all behind when I fell into the river,” Grell answered sadly as he realised where this was going.

“Damn it…” William cursed. “Do you think we’d be able to make any from materials in the forest?”

“At such short notice I doubt it…” Grell answered, looking around. “Although…”

“Although?”

“Well, given that our clothes are already ruined, we could easily make some sort of rope from those—”

“Sutcliff, if you think I’m wandering around this hell hole naked with you, you can think again,” William said sternly.

“Will, just think about it! Not everything I say has to have perverted intentions! It could really help them out…”

William thought for a moment and then shook his head. “Impossible, we don’t have enough material to reach that far and then we’d be both clothesless and no better off. We’ll think of something else.”

Suddenly, a warm wind began to blow around them and the strange humming noise that they had come to associate with awful things started to sound. Just as William was about to complain, a whispery voice spoke to them. “You wish to help your friends, correct?” it asked, just barely audible.

“Who goes there?” William said, raising the saw in defence. Grell raised his chainsaw and stood back to back with William, preparing for the worst.

“We are everyone yet no-one…” the voice said. “But we’ll help you…for a price.”

“I don’t want to hear it,” William said, shutting down the mysterious voice immediately. “Anything involving sacrifices ends badly and I’m not dealing with this right now. Come on Grell, we’re leaving.”

“Wait…What?” the voice said, a little incredulous. “Won’t you at least hear us out?”

“No.” William said firmly. “I’ve dealt with shapeshifters, kelpies, demons and all sorts of evil beings. I do not have the tolerance for the ‘Spirit of the Forest’ or whatever you claim to be.”

“Wow William, that’s pretty…blunt,” Grell said, not really sure what to think. “Maybe they’re good?”

“I doubt it,” William said starting to continue forwards.

“Now, now, listen…” the voice whispered. “We can give you rope… All we need if the red one’s hair.”

“You’re right Will, pure evil,” Grell said, slinging his chainsaw over his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”

***

The kappa laughed at Alan who sat facing him with a determined expression on his face. “I knew you would refuse, I did tell them,” it cackled. “Oh well, no skin off my back… Guess we’ll just have to convince one of the others. Have fun dying a painful and slow death as you drown down here—”

“W-Wait!” Alan cried out, suddenly remembering something he had heard about kappa. “Maybe I have a proposition for you too…”

“Hmm? What could you possibly offer me?” it grinned, revealing its sharp teeth.

“A fight… I wish to fight you. If you win I’ll let one of you take my place,” Alan said nervously, standing up. He was pleased to see that he towered above the ugly creature despite his own small stature.

“A fight!” the kappa exclaimed, and started laughing, causing his fat belly to move up and down as he did so. “You of all people believe you could beat ME in a fight? Sure, I’ll take you on weakling,” the kappa said, standing up. “What kind of fighting method would you like to use? Other than running away crying of course.”

“Judo,” Alan said confidently.

“If you so wish,” the kappa nodded, preparing to move forwards.

“Wait!” Alan called out. “We need to do this properly,” he said. And with that, he bowed deeply to the kappa as one does before fighting. As Alan righted himself, the kappa watched in fascination before also bowing himself. As he did so however, the small pool of water on top of the creature’s head spilled over and became empty, freezing it in place.

“CURSES!” the kappa screamed. Alan could hear the murderous intent in its voice. “You little shit!” it exclaimed, suddenly breaking out in curses. Alan merely stood by and congratulated himself on reading so many folklore books when they had visited the Japan branch during the ‘Kira Case’ a few years ago.

“Take that, you little demon!” Alan yelled happily. “You can’t move now and there’s nothing you can do about it unless you agree to serve me for all eternity!”

The kappa started to laugh again, a low, guttural chuckle. “Only if you can refill my plate with water from the river I originate from, you weakling bastard,” it finally said. Alan could hear the grin forming on its lips. “Unfortunately you don’t know where that is. Here’s a hint – it’s not this one!”

Alan looked at the creature in silence for a moment before speaking. “Oh well, it matters not to me. The eternal servitude was only a bonus. I’m perfectly content to just leave you here and escape.”

“You’ll never make it. Do you have any idea how deep down you are here? The only reason you made it here was because of the kelpie. Otherwise you would have died long ago.”

“Well then I guess it’s just a risk I‘m going to have to take. It’s got to be better than just drowning here. Unless you know another way out?” Alan asked hopefully.

“Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you, reaper scum,” the kappa responded, still stuck in its bowing position. “I hope you die a miserable and painful death.”

“I already am…” Alan said forlornly while walking over to the pool in the middle of the cave. “Last chance to save yourself,” he said to the ugly creature.

“Fucking kill yourself,” it spat in return. 

Alan was shocked at the foul language after it had been so polite previously. With nothing left to say, Alan took a deep breath and jumped into the cold murky water, unsure of where it would take him.

***

“Ronald, I appreciate that you’re happy to be alive but you need to rest…” Eric said concernedly. He was painfully aware of how much Ronald’s call had echoed around them and he was becoming increasingly worried that they would be attacked. The blond reaper just continued to smile and stare into the distance, looking at nothing I particular.

“I won…” he whispered happily. “I WON!!”

“Ronald! Please… we need to keep ourselves hidden until help gets here…”

Suddenly and quite creepily, Ronald turned his head to look Eric in the eyes and said, still grinning, “Help isn’t coming Eric. We need to help ourselves.” Ronald’s eyes stilll seemed clouded over somewhat and had an unearthly glowing quality to them. Eric found himself wondering, if only briefly, whether they had accidentally saved the clone instead of the real Ronald. His fears were soon put to rest however when Ronald puked again and appeared to pass out.

“R-Ronald…?”

“I’m fine…” the blond whispered. “Although maybe I should rest after all.”

“Perhaps you should…” Eric agreed. He wondered what Ronald had meant when he said that help wasn’t coming; could he sense something that Eric could not? Just as he was about to ask him, he suddenly heard a shout from above in a very familiar voice.

“Eric!”

“A-Alan?!” Eric cried, looking around for the source of the voice.

“I’m up here!” Alan cried from a few ledges above. “I…I got dragged to an underwater cave, or so I was told at least. I jumped into a pool of water in the middle and it took me to the middle of a cave just above here. I was going to start looking around for you when I was drawn here by the sound of Ronald’s voice! Is everyone okay??”

“Alan… I-I can’t believe it!” Eric yelled, starting to cry as he looked up at his friend. “What about you? Are you alright?!”

“Would you believe me if I said I was healed by a magical kelpie and then escaped by tricking a kappa?” Alan asked, laughing a little.

“In this place, I’ll believe anything,” Eric replied, standing up so he could look at Alan better. “Listen, Ronald is gravely injured, do you have any rope or anything?”

“That’s such a random question that I find it hard to believe that I actually have an answer – as a matter of fact I found some leftover rope in the cave I came from,” Alan said, indicating to some rope that he had slung across his shoulder. “I figured it might be useful for something…”

“Alan you are my hero right now…” Eric grinned. “Chuck one end of it down here and we can work on getting Ronald to safety.”

“Sure thing,” Alan said, throwing some rope down to the ledge where Eric and Ronald had been sheltering for the last few hours.  
Eric turned to Ronald as he started to knot the rope. “Okay Ronald, this might hurt a little… a lot… But I need you to let me put some rope under your arms okay?”

The blond reaper suddenly turned to him and looked him dead in the eyes. “If you let Alan help us, we’ll die.”

 

TO BE CONTINUED~


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“Ronald, what are you talking about?” Eric asked, slightly irritated. “We’ll die as we are now if we don’t do something.”

Ronald just stared back with a grim expression on his face before coughing up a little blood again and looking up at Alan. “Damn it Eric, after everything we’ve been through are you really going to be this dumb? Just how blinded by friendship are you? _Look_ at it, can’t you see it?”

Eric looked back up at Alan who stood above them, rope in hand and a worried expression on his face. “Ronald… I know we’ve been through a lot of terrifying things, and I know it’s a bad idea to trust our eyes straight away but if that really were a monster, do you think it would be trying to help us? Besides, why would it make up such an elaborate story for how it got here—”

“LOOK AT IT GODDAMN IT!” Ronald screamed. “How blind are you?!” 

Eric noticed that Ronald’s eyes were glowing that strange green again and found himself wondering not for the first time if he was actually holding one of the fakes in his arms. No matter how much he stared at Alan, Eric could see nothing out of the ordinary; no strange blurry outlines, no misshapen teeth or darkened eyes. Even the strange humming that usually accompanied the creatures was absent right now. Ronald on the other hand continued to stare up at the brown haired reaper with an expression of pure fear and loathing in his eyes.

“Ronald, it’s okay…” Alan called down. “You don’t need to worry about anything, I’m here to help you! I’ll get you guys out of here then we’ll find the others and look for a way to escape.” He smiled, causing Ronald to flinch and making him wince as a result.

“Don’t talk to me demon!” Ronald yelled. “I can see you! I can see you for what you really are! You’re nothing but darkness and corruption wearing the face of my colleague!”

“Ronald… Listen,” Eric said, reaching out to wipe some sweat from Ronald’s forehead. “You’re burning up and horribly injured. You’ve been through some severe trauma and I think you might be having some delusions as a result—”

“Don’t touch me traitor,” Ronald spat, slapping Eric’s hand away with what little strength he had left. “I don’t understand how you can be so trusting. I’d rather die here than let that thing touch us.”

“Well I’m afraid you don’t really have much choice in the matter” Eric said angrily. “We’ll die here if we stay here anyway and I’d much rather take my chances with what very well could be Alan. At the very least Grell and William might have a better chance of finding us if we’re off this ledge.”

“Leading this thing to them would be equal to murder,” Ronald responded coldly. 

Above them, Alan sighed in exasperation. Eric looked up at him again and gave a slight nod as they made eye contact. “Ronald, I didn’t want it to have to come this,” Eric sighed sadly. Before Ronald could respond, Eric delivered a quick chop to the back of his head, rendering him unconscious again. With extreme caution, Eric lifted him up slightly until he was able to tie some rope around him. Carefully, he helped Alan to pull him to safety before climbing up the rope himself.

“I’m amazed you were actually able to support our weight...” Eric said as he steadied himself on the ledge.

“I feel stronger than I have in years,” Alan replied, helping to prop Ronald up. “I don’t know what happened to me in that cave, but whatever it was seems to have done me some good—”

“First things first,” Eric interrupted. Without warning, he threw himself forward and pulled Alan into a tight embrace while still allowing him to keep an arm free to hold Ronald up. “I am just ridiculously happy that you’re alive right now. What happened to you??”

“I…already told you,” Alan said, attempting to breathe through the tightness of the hug. “I can’t really explain it, but I’ll try my best…”

***

“I don’t know how much longer I can go on here, Will…” Grell whined as they continued through the forest. “Are we even going in the right direction?”

“I’m following the sound of water, so I believe so,” said William, although even he was starting to doubt himself. Given the forest’s propensity for changing around them and playing tricks on their mind, he wasn’t even sure if following the sound of water was the best idea. For what felt like hours they had been walking in the sweltering heat, attempting to use the trees for shade to no avail. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but it seemed that since they had rejected the strange tree spirits, the forest had been purposely moving its leaves away from them, exposing them to the beating sun.

After a few more minutes, Grell finally stopped walking and waited for William to notice. Eventually the dark haired reaper sensed silence behind him and turned to face Grell. “What?” he asked.

“What’s our plan here, Will?” asked Grell. “When we find the others… what then? Where are we going to go? What are we going to do? It feels like we’ve been wandering this place for an eternity and we have never once seen any sign of an exit. Are we going to die here?”

William was silent for a moment as he tried to think of something encouraging to say. Unable to come up with anything he just sighed and attempted to look Grell in the eyes across the small distance between them. “We’re stronger in numbers. At the very least we can prolong our existence here if we get back together.”

“But why?” cried Grell, struggling to stop the tears forming in his eyes. “Why are we continuing to put ourselves through this? I don’t know how much more I can take—”

“If you think that way then why did you even bother escaping from that cave?” William interrupted. “Why did you come to save me? Why have we been helping each other this whole time? We’ve been saving each other again and again; we saved Ronald from certain death, we’ve run from creatures worse than demons… Are you telling me this has all been for nothing? If it was pointless, them why didn’t we just let ourselves die at the start? Why did I pull those maggots from your legs? Why-” William found himself unable to continue as his voice broke and he felt a lump forming in his throat. Quickly, he turned away so that Grell wouldn’t see him crying too.

“Will—”

“D-Don’t talk to me… let’s just keep going.” William cleared his throat slightly before continuing. “The trees, we can try to climb the trees and see if we can get our bearings.”

“WILL!” Grell yelled, causing William to turn and face him again.

“What is it?” William asked angrily.

“Look up… it… clouded over?”

The two reapers looked up into the sky and saw for the first time that it was covered in thick grey clouds. Suddenly they both felt a lot colder, and while they initially felt relieved at the temperature change, panic soon began to set in. William made his way over to Grell and two of them stood back to back, looking for any movement amongst the trees. Around them the forest lay silent, no trace of wind or sound, just emptiness.

“Something is coming…” William muttered, feeling a chill run down his spine. The strange, low humming sound started again, causing their ears to prickle. Eyes wide, they continued to frantically scan their surroundings, looking for the source. As they turned in place, they noticed the forest starting to warp again, becoming blurry and misshapen and causing a terrible ache in their heads. “Can you smell that..?” William asked, noticing a familiar smell start to fill the air.

“Will… it hurts…” Grell muttered, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Don’t close your eyes Sutcliff… We need to be aware…” William suddenly found that he was unable to stop himself from closing his own eyes as the pain in his head grew. When they eventually opened their eyes again, they found themselves in the same woods, but now the ground was blackened and the trees all burnt down to the stumps. A thick smoke hung in the air and the smell of burning wood filled their nostrils. 

“Th-The sky! It’s… It’s night-time!” Grell cried, looking above them.

“What on earth…?” William asked in confusion.

***

“So what happened after you jumped into the pool?” Eric asked. They had finally managed to find a way down from the cliffs with Ronald in tow. For the first time in a while, Eric was feeling strangely hopeful that they might actually be able to all get back together again and look for a way out. They decided that the best course of action was to find the others, and then look for where they had entered to see if there was a way out.

“Well I just kept swimming and swimming… I thought I was going to run out of oxygen, but just as I was about to give up hope I saw a light, and that was when I came out in the cave close to where you were. It’s a miracle I survived really…”

Between them Ronald was starting to stir and Eric wondered what he was going to say to him when he woke up. Although Ronald had been more than right to doubt the fact that Alan had suddenly appeared before them, the potential of being rescued, even if by a demon was better than falling to their deaths. He still felt bad for knocking Ronald out however. Eric looked at Alan who was walking ahead holding Ronald’s legs while Eric was supporting his upper half.

“Alan…?”

“Yes?”

“Is… is it really you? I’m not imagining things?”

“It’s definitely me,” Alan said, turning to face Eric while still holding Ronald’s legs. “They tried to replace me and they failed.”

“But what Ronald said... about you wearing a mask… Why would he say such a thing?”

Suddenly, Ronald woke up between them, eyes wide. He seemed to be looking around in confusion before looking up at Eric. “What… What’s happening to the forest?” he asked, looking around again.

“What do you mean?” Eric asked, noticing that Ronald’s eyes had the weird glow to them again.

“Come to think of it, something smells strange…” Alan said, looking around.

Suddenly a loud, pained shriek filled the air as the woods around them seemed to burst into flame. “W-What the hell?” Eric cried as the flames started to get closer.

“Look at the sky!” Alan shouted. As they looked up, they saw what appeared to be a large rip appear above them. Through it they could see the night sky and could feel a faintly cold wind.

***

Outside the forest, someone else had noticed the absence of William and his companions. While others had forgotten about them or didn’t seem to care, a young earl had received a letter from a certain silver haired man.

_Dear Earl,_

_I apologise for contacting you in such a formal manner but I have an important request to ask of you. Some reapers have approached me and informed me that members of the division have been going missing. Sources also reveal an influx in the number of souls appearing at certain sites._

_I feel it is only a matter of time before Her Majesty herself contacts you and so I wanted to ask for your help before she could._

_I have been able to pinpoint the location where I believe the disappearances to be occurring, however every time I try to approach it, I get a terrible headache and am unable to continue. At a guess, I suspect there may be some form of barrier to keep those who are not meant to be there at bay. Perhaps your demon friend can shed some light on the matter?_

_Of course I will repay you however you wish._

_Yours thankfully,_

_Undertaker ~ x_

 

Ciel placed the letter on his desk and sighed. “Sebastian?” he called out, prompting the demon to enter the room.

“Yes, my lord?”

“How do you feel about going on an investigation?”

 

TO BE CONTINUED~


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Eric opened his eyes and saw the sky above him. Dark sky. Sitting up slowly, he saw that Alan and Ronald were both lying on the ground, seemingly passed out. Drawing in a shaky breath, Eric could smell and almost taste the remnants of smoke in the now cool air. Somewhat unsteadily, he got to his feet and looked around, unable to believe that their surroundings had finally changed. The trees all appeared to have been burnt and lay in charred stumps around him. The ground was black and crumbly, covered in a layer of soot which crunched under his shoes as he made his way over to where Ronald was lying on his back.

“Hey,” he tried to say, but it came out as little more than a whisper, and he realized that his throat was extremely dry. He coughed and tried again, louder this time. “Hey, wake up,” he said, shaking Ronald’s shoulder slightly. The blond reaper remained motionless, but Eric was shocked to realise that almost all of his wounds seemed to have disappeared. Checking himself, he was surprised to see that he was also mostly intact; his ripped and missing clothing seemed fine minus a few tears here and there that looked like they could have been caused by nothing more than the initial coach crash. He ran over to Alan and saw that the same was true for him – the only damage visible to the brunette was his injured leg accompanied by the torn trouser leg which had happened as a result.

“What…” he muttered to himself, looking around again, eyes wide. It was night time now and the stars above shone down on him coldly, watching him judgmentally. A cold sweat had formed on his skin and as he breathed out, he could see his breath form a cloud in front of him. It seemed the heat of the forest had finally disappeared.

***

“I am surprised at you taking orders from someone other than Her Majesty,” Sebastian said, grinning a little as he held the coach door open for Ciel.

“I am not following orders, I am merely investigating out of my own interest,” Ciel replied bluntly, stepping into the carriage.

“And the speedy way in which you responded?” Sebastian asked, referring to the fact that Ciel had ordered a coach almost immediately after receiving the letter.

“Let’s just say that it is within my interests to help the Undertaker,” he responded, looking out of the window.

True, he was doing this mostly out of curiosity, but a part of him was also doing it out of concern. Although it should not have mattered to him, he hadn’t been able to help but notice the lack of irritating death gods in the passing few months. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he had actually been starting to worry.

Sebastian slid into the seat next to him and closed the door. “What do you expect we will find?” he asked, tapping the roof to tell the driver to start moving.

“That’s exactly what interests me the most,” Ciel said, turning to face him. “I don’t know.”

***

Elsewhere, William and Grell were experiencing similar confusion to Eric. Gone was the makeshift headband made from William’s tie, and instead were almost pristine uniforms save for a few rips and mud stains. As the pressure in their heads had grown, they had ended up falling to their knees and curling up in a ball to try and stop the pain. In the end it seemed that they had passed out at some point, even though it felt like no time had passed, and when they awoke they had found themselves looking at a sky full of stars.

“Will…”

“I can see it too, Sutcliff,” William said coldly. He brought a gloved hand to his face and looked it over as though he’d never seen it before.

“Everything is…okay. Why is everything okay?!” Grell asked, starting to sound panicked. The rope burns around his neck had disappeared and the only injury he seemed to have was a mild ache in his legs and lower back as though he had been trapped under something briefly.

“We need to find the others,” William said, ignoring Grell’s question. He lowered his hand to his side and started to look around again, hoping to see some sign of Eric or Ronald (or even Alan) through what remained of the trees. Unfortunately despite them being burnt, the forest was still too thick to see clearly ahead.

“If they’re even here…” Grell mumbled. “Do you think this could be another one of their illusions?”

“It’s hard to tell,” William said, brushing some soot from his shoulder. “Although whatever it is, it seems they’ve been kind enough to heal us for some reason.” The dark haired reaper thought for a moment. “That’s if we were even injured to begin with.”

“What do you mean?” Grell asked cautiously. He noticed that a small scar had formed on William’s forehead and remembered with sudden clarity that William had cut it when trying to save Eric and Alan from the broken carriage before this had all started. “Oh no… You… You have to be kidding…”

The dark haired reaper gave a solemn nod.

“There’s… there’s no way this could all have been in our heads!” Grell cried. “There’s too much! The pain was too real! Besides, Ronald told us about the weird black wall he came across… he couldn’t have imagined that right?”

***

The sky was starting to darken as the coach made its way towards the location listed in Undertaker’s letter. Although winter was nearing its end, the days were still short and the nights long and cold. Ciel’s plan was to stay at an inn near the ‘forest’ and go to investigate during the daylight hours after sending Sebastian ahead to check for any foul play set up by Undertaker.

At the moment, he was watching the sun set outside the window when Sebastian suddenly let out a startled gasp and tensed in the seat next to him. “What’s—” he couldn’t finish his question before Sebastian suddenly threw the door open and went to check on the driver of the coach. “Sebastian! What’s happening?” Ciel asked, sticking his head out of the window.

“Get back inside, young master!” Sebastian yelled. As he had suspected, the coach driver was nowhere in sight. A strange electric static had started to fill the air. He knew what this was. “Djinn…” he cursed under his breath.

***

After what seemed like forever, Ronald finally started to stir. At first Eric didn’t notice because he was trying to position Alan’s apparently still injured leg more comfortably. He eventually realised when Ronald let out a small yell, telling him to get away from Alan.

“I told you to get away from that thing!” Ronald cried.

“Ronald, it’s fine; look around you!” Eric yelled. It’s over, it’s gone!”

“I can’t believe you would be this stupid,” Ronald said, making his way over to where Alan lay. “Step aside, I need to kill it before it can escape the forest. I think the barrier was keeping them in, but it’s gone now.”

“Ronald, I’m not about to let you kill Alan after I only just got him back!” Eric said, standing up until he was stood square in front of Ronald, looking down at him. “If you try anything, I’ll kill you first,” he growled.

“Looks like they’ve still got you under their spell,” Ronald said. His eyes were glowing slightly again. “Listen, I don’t know how I didn’t see it before – I think it must have been part of their magic – but I can see it now. I can see everything for what it is and was.”

“What are you talking about?” Eric asked, stepping back a little.

“All of it, everything… none of it was real. It was all an illusion.” He looked around at the forest and his head started to ache as memories of two separate visions came to him. In one, he saw them all as they had struggled through the forest, running from eyeless ghouls and almost dying on multiple occasions. Yet overlaid with this vision was memories of them all walking aimlessly through a dark forest, talking with imaginary creatures….screaming at things that weren’t there. 

And yet something didn’t make sense… He had come face to face with himself in that cave; had nearly died at his own hand. He remembered this clearly. Yet at the same time… He squeezed his eyes shut trying to rationalise things. He saw himself lying in a cave alone. He had been separated from the others somehow. He was staring up at the ceiling of the cave, unable to move it seemed, his eyes a ghostly white. Around him a dark entity, not unlike the one that was posing as Alan had flown around him, cackling and seeming to breathe some sort of smoke up his nose. Suddenly it all made sense.

“Psychological torture,” he said, looking Eric in the eyes. “They meant to drive us insane… possibly to the point of death. But why… who are they? What are they?”

“And why can you see us?” a raspy voice suddenly asked.

Ronald looked behind Eric to see ‘Alan’ standing upright and staring at him with a look that could kill by itself. Eric turned slowly, not knowing what to expect but feeling a sense of panic rise in him. He was surprised when he saw it was still just Alan standing there.

“H-Hey Alan… stop messing around…” he said hopefully. “Everything is back to normal now, we can go home…”

“Eric… get a clue will you,” Ronald said dryly. “Whatever that is, it’s not Alan and you know it.”

***

With some difficulty, Sebastian managed to bring the now driverless horses to a halt. He could sense that they were on the verge of losing control, quite clearly spooked by whatever had taken their owner. The sky was now almost pitch black and the strange electrical sensation he felt was getting more powerful. With the carriage now stopped, he jumped down and went to check on Ciel.

“Young Master, I fear we may have taken a wrong turning at some point; we need to get out of here as quickly as possible,” he said, opening Ciel’s door.

“Sebastian, what’s going on?” Ciel demanded. He was squinting slightly and it was clear that the odd pressure in the air was starting to give him a headache. “Where is the driver?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that,” the demon replied, extending a hand towards Ciel. “However I do know that it is only a matter of time before the horses pulling this coach go into a frenzy. If you would allow me to do so, I would like to take you to safety before that can happen.”

“I don’t need you to carry me like some sort of child,” Ciel snapped, slapping Sebastian’s hand away. “If something strange is going on around here, it is our duty to investigate it.”

“But young ma—”

“I can handle it,” Ciel said, stepping out of the coach. “If we can’t travel with the coach then we shall do so by foot. Wherever we’ve ended up, there seems to be a strange presence coming from that forest,” he said pointing his cane towards the thick mess of trees that surrounded them. “I wish to find out what it is and eliminate it.”

“…Yes, My Lord,” Sebastian said, bowing slightly. Although it was his duty to protect the Earl, the Earl in question did often make it difficult to do so. 

Without saying another word, the two of them started to walk towards the treeline on the left side of the road. Above them, the sky had now darkened completely and stars had started to appear. Ciel could feel his headache increasing with each step.

***

“I don’t entirely understand it all myself,” William said as they trekked through what remained of the former hell they had been trapped in. “It certainly felt real… but at the same time something just doesn’t quite sit right.”

“You’re telling me,” Grell said. They had been trapped here for what felt like an eternity and he could still feel the rope that had cut into his flesh and the creatures that had infested his legs.

“Come to think of it,” William said, stopping suddenly and taking Grell by surprise. “I feel like I’ve read about something like this before. A long time ago.”

“An illusionary forest of the damned?” Grell asked, somewhat surprised.

“Not quite,” William replied, adjusting his glasses. “They had a name… something similar to demons but not quite, what was it…” he closed his eyes for a moment, trying to think. “Djinn,” he said at last.

“Djinn?”

“Yes… If I recall correctly, they’re a strange mystical being capable of creating extremely vivid hallucinations in their victims and have the ability to shapeshift into a variety of forms,” he explained. “They’re said to be close to god but can be just as evil, if not more so, than demons. I’ve heard that some are even capable of creating and maintaining a parallel world.”

“Well, that would explain the doppelgangers,” Grell said thoughtfully. “It would also explain that horrific horse-woman. I mean, if they’re capable of shape shifting into whatever they want…”

“Exactly,” William said. Things were starting to become a little clearer now. However… “The only question is why they were hunting down reapers,” he said. “We are of no benefit to them. Not nutritionally at least.”

“Well maybe it’s not food they need us for…” Grell said, remembering how a variety of the entities they had encountered had seemed to express a desire to replace those they were mimicking.

“Whatever it is, it seems that something has stopped them for now,” William said. “At least temporarily. We need to use this to our advantage and get out of here as quickly as possible.”

“You don’t need to tell me that twice,” Grell said as they started to walk again.

***

“What exactly am I looking at here?” Ciel asked. Somehow with what felt like almost no time at all, they had made their way deep inside the forest and come face to face with what appeared to be a black wall at its centre. A strange heat radiated from it and it seemed to be pulsing slightly as though it were alive.

Beside him, Sebastian stood with a slightly concerned expression on his face. If it had been up to him, he would have taken the young master to a safe location and returned alone, but Ciel had been oddly insistent that he be allowed to accompany him, despite the migraine that grew stronger every few metres. At the moment, the young earl was almost unable to stand from the pain of the pressure in his head, but somehow remained so. Even Sebastian was starting to feel something as a result of the static in the air and he could see why Undertaker and possibly others had been unable to approach whatever this was.

“Sebastian, answer me,” Ciel demanded through gritted teeth.

“Unless I’m mistaken,” Sebastian said, “this appears to be some sort of alternate space in reality created by beings known as Djinn. You may know them more commonly as ‘Genies’.”

“Why would such beings be in the middle of a forest in England?” Ciel asked, feeling himself starting to become faint the longer he was near this thing.

“I’m not entirely sure, but judging by the power radiating from this and the sheer size of it, I would say that it’s been here for a while,” Sebastian said dubiously. Cautiously, he reached out a gloved hand and touched the strange black space in front of him. To his surprise, his hand kept going and seemed to continue through. After a moment’s thought, he told Ciel to stay back and put his upper half through to see what was inside, much to Ciel's surprise.

At first he saw nothing except more darkness, but then his eyes adjusted and he saw that it was just more dark forest, except it had an unearthly glow and seemed oddly warm. Strange wispy lights flew through the air, seeming to cackle as they did so. Squinting slightly, he watched as the dark forest flickered between daylight and night-time; seemingly two different realities at once. After a brief moment, he realised that there was some sort of illusionary spell cast over the area but it was failing to affect him, most likely because he was not human. Djinn were known to play on thoughts and emotions, often manifesting horrific visions based on the brain’s worst fear; something which just didn’t apply to someone like Sebastian. The demon grinned slightly before pulling back.

He turned to see Ciel sitting on the ground, barely conscious but still looking concerned, although he was trying to hide the fact that he was. “Well?” Ciel asked, although it was more of a whisper at this point.

“It is as I suspected,” Sebastian said. “This seems to be some sort of Djinn… nest, if that’s the right word. I’m not entirely sure if they are trapped here or merely using it as some sort of feeding ground.”

“What did you see?” Ciel asked. Although he could feel danger emanating from the mass in front of him, he could not help but let his curiosity get the better of him. He had never come across such a species before and wanted to at least learn something about it before he ordered Sebastian to destroy them.

“That need not concern you, Young Master” Sebastian replied, smiling slightly. “The question is what you would like me to do next; if Undertaker is to be believed, Grell and company may be trapped inside, as may many others including our driver. Do you wish for me to search for them?” Although he was not entirely certain how the Djinn worked, he had a strong suspicion that the missing reapers were either lying somewhere within trapped in an eternal nightmare, or were wandering around seeing things which did not exist.

“What would I do while you search for them?” Ciel asked. As tough as he acted, he did not want to be left alone in this strange forest.

“Ah, I shall of course take you somewhere safe beforehand,” Sebastian replied, bowing slightly. “I did tell you that accompanying me may not be the best plan.”

Ciel was about to retort with a snide remark about how he had managed to get this far while remaining relatively fine, but decided against it. Instead he thought for a moment before nodding. “Fine, I shall permit you to take me back to the nearest town, but before we do so, I wish to see inside this strange wall myself.”

“Young Master, I do not believe that would be a wise action given the nature of these beings. They have a habit of playing on one’s fears…”

“I fear nothing,” Ciel said, although he was not quite sure why. A part of him knew that he needed to listen to Sebastian’s advice, yet something was drawing him towards walking through the pulsating black wall. He wanted to walk away, yet instead he found himself getting slowly to his feet and starting to stagger towards it. 

Sebastian reached out to stop him but then pulled back. Perhaps it was for the best to let the young Earl see this for himself after all. He stood aside and let Ciel walk past him but was careful to ensure he didn’t let him pass completely through.

Ciel walked up to the darkness and placed his hand against it as Sebastian had done. It was warm, hot in fact, and almost burnt to touch. He pulled back slightly before taking a breath and leaning forwards. Sebastian grabbed Ciel’s coattails moments before he fell through completely.

***

Eric stood between the two figures, one a reaper with oddly glowing eyes and the other apparently a demon wearing the face of his friend. Even with Alan sporting a dark expression, he still wasn’t sure who to believe. “Alan… Please stop acting strange…”

“Just how naïve are you?” Alan asked, glaring at Eric. “I was hoping to use your unnatural obsession over this ‘Alan’ of yours to escape, but now that I’ve been outed, it’s just irritating.” With a sudden flick of his left hand, he sent Eric flying until he crashed against a tree stump, rendering him unconscious.

“Looks like it’s just me and you now,” Ronald said, stepping forward with his fists raised. “If you think I’m going to let you walk out of here, you’re sorely mistaken.”

“And just what exactly do you intend to do against me, reaper?” Alan growled. “Or have you not realised yet?”

“Realised what?” Ronald asked, trying to summon his death scythe and failing. Alan smirked and shook his head.

“As if I would let you summon your scythe here.”

“Doesn’t bother me,” Ronald said, procuring a pocket knife from within his jacket. “I always thought scythes were unreliable,” he said as he started to rush towards Alan, intending to slit his throat.

Alan stepped aside at the last minute and kicked Ronald as he rushed past. “This body is surprisingly strong given the illness that runs through it…” he said thoughtfully. “When the others said it was tainted I had my doubts, but it turns out it’s just what I need.”

“What are you talking about?” Ronald asked, turning back to face him and preparing to rush him again.

“You always were the most hot-headed of your group,” Alan said, jumping over Ronald as he tried to attack once more. “I suppose it doesn’t matter if I tell you now since the others have all run away anyway…cowards.”

“If you’re about to give me an expositional speech, you can save it,” Ronald said, wiping some sweat from his forehead. “If I want to know what’s going on I’ll ask the superiors that sent us here. Based on what you monsters have all been saying, I strongly suspect they have something to do with all of this.”

“My, my, clever one aren’t you?” Alan chuckled. “But aren’t you curious why?”

Ronald stared at the creature in front of him. It looked like Alan but it was surrounded by a black and purple miasma and had holes where its eyes should be. As far as he could tell however, it just looked like Alan to everyone else. He recalled the conversation he had had with the one in the cave as it had slowly tortured him to death – something which may or may not have even happened – and lowered his knife for a moment. “I can’t tell if you’re stalling for time or just stupid, but I’ll bite; what the hell is going on here?”

“I’m so glad you finally asked,” Alan said, clapping his hands. Suddenly the area around them rippled and Ronald was thrown into what seemed to be a hastily thrown together imaginary flashback, although he could still slightly see the forest through the meeting room he was now looking at. Looking closer he noticed it seemed to be similar to the meeting offices within the dispatch. Eight reapers - no, seven reapers and one of the demons that had trapped them here - sat around a rectangular table. 

“So…you say you can bring us closer to God?” the reaper at the head of the table was asking.

“Not just that, I can make you Gods,” replied the demonic figure at the other end. “And all we need is a way to escape the prison we have been enslaved in.”

The reaper at the head of the table nodded. “But why us? Why my employees?”

“They are stronger than humans, but not entirely different,” the creature replied. “They should be able to pass through the barrier with ease. Besides, despite the fact you are willing to make a deal with us, you would never sacrifice humans, you are too proud for that. That is why you trapped us to begin with.”

“How many of you are there?”

“I estimate around 300,” it said.

“300! That is quite a lot… why, we only have about 500 reapers in this dispatch as it is…” the head reaper said. The others around the table mumbled in agreement.

“Well, that’s what happens when you trap a group of Djinn for three hundred years,” the ‘Djinn’ said. “We are just as capable of breeding as humans are.”

“Sir, I’m not sure how I feel about this,” one of the reapers around the table piped up. “Our ancestors must have sealed these…creatures for a reason. Is it really a good idea to let them out?”

“They have promised us powers beyond God,” the head reaper said quietly. “The power to control life and death… perhaps even the power to finally reach heaven rather than be stuck in this purgatory.”

“But sir…”

“Silence! What do we need to do?” he asked the Djinn.

The Djinn grinned, a little too widely. “You must send us reapers. Some of your best ones. We will possess their bodies and at an appointed time each month, you will come to free us. This will allow us enough time to fully merge with the vessels you send while not drawing too much attention to the fact that your staff are disappearing.”

“And what then?”

“Once we are all freed, I will return with our most powerful members and bestow the power of the Gods upon you. It is as simple as that.”

Ronald watched with an expression of disgust and confusion. If what he was seeing was real and not merely another trick by the ‘Djinn’ as he had learnt they were called, it meant that their superiors had betrayed them for nothing more than some imaginary power. He turned to face the one that had brought him here and was met with a surprisingly sad expression from the creature. It clapped its hands again and the scene disappeared.

“Unfortunately, your superiors didn’t turn up this time,” it said a little forlornly. “In fact, they haven’t turned up for about 6 months.”

“S-Six months?!” Ronald cried. “Have we even been here that long? It felt like a week at most…”

Alan sighed. “Time used to go faster here than it did outside. Unfortunately, with more of us leaving, we were unable to sustain it and time here slowed down. You have indeed been missing from your world for around 6 months.”

“I…I don’t understand,” Ronald said running his hand through his hair and trying to rationalise what he had just seen. “Are you telling me our superiors sacrificed our lives for the sake of some illusionary trickery?!”

“I can’t say whether they truly would have obtained the powers promised by our leader - although he was powerful enough to escape without the use of a vessel, so I don't doubt that it would be possible - but yes it would seem so. However, the lack of contact from both them and our leader leads me to believe that something may have happened. Not that it matters now, as some fool has been kind enough to burn the very hex that was keeping us in, leaving us free to leave at will. They should have known that a creature born from smokeless fire cannot be killed by such.”

Ronald stared ahead of him, eyes wide, looking at nothing in particular. He was in shock. Alan noticed that Ronald’s eyes were glowing green again slightly and grinned, although Ronald didn’t see him do so. Eventually Ronald looked at the creature masquerading as Alan again. “But…why the psychological torture?” he asked. “Why not just take our bodies over?”

“If it were as simple as that, we would,” Alan said. “Unfortunately the mind has a way of rejecting unknown forces trying to enter it. Because of that we have to ‘kill’ the owner of the body, usually by killing them within their mind or driving them to the point of insanity.” The creature grinned a little. “To be honest, the torture was just for fun, we could have murdered you call almost instantly but have been bored for far too long.” 

“Bastards,” Ronald spat. After thinking for a while, he spoke again, “If it was all in our heads, then why did we all see the same thing? Why were we able to interact?”

“Mass hallucination,” it replied. “A little more difficult but much more fun. Unfortunately your group was a little more strong willed than we had anticipated and ended up saving each other too much.” _But not soon enough_ it thought.

“Well, that’s what you get for asking for the best,” Ronald said, winking before remembering the situation he was in. “But wait a minute… if you’re free to leave, why are you still here? Why not just let me and Eric go?”

The thing cackled and extended its grin until it covered half its face again. “Don’t be stupid! You think we could let you go after everything you’ve witnessed? We can’t risk being trapped again; all evidence must be eliminated—”

“If you hadn’t shown me that vision just now you wouldn’t have had to worry,” Ronald said. “We could just have left and thought it was all some sort of bizarre dream—”

“Not with one of your team mates missing,” it interrupted again. “Or had you forgotten that the Alan you no longer know is within this body?”

“But you said the others had left,” Ronald said, not wanting to think about what the creature’s statement meant regarding the fate of Alan. “What makes you care so much?”

The thing stared back at him, silenced for a while. Eventually it looked away, almost as if in embarrassment. “Well… If you must know,” it sighed, “I don’t really have much choice.”

Ronald looked at it, waiting for it to explain. In the meantime he had been moving closer to Eric, hoping to wake him up with a swift kick without the creature noticing.

“Well… once we have possessed a vessel, it’s actually quite hard to leave it again. I’m quite lucky that the body I’m in seems to be strangely ill, so all things going well it should die soon and I’ll be free, but at least for now I’m trapped. There was no way you were going to let me go back with you given your strange knew acquired vision – although I think I’m beginning to realise why you can see me now – so I have no choice but to kill you both. I may be able to get away with convincing the other two that I’m the real one until I can kill them later…”

“Wait a minute,” Ronald said, suddenly realising what the creature was saying. “Are you telling me that this is actually Alan’s body I’m looking at right now?”

“It is indeed,” the creature responded. “Perhaps you might want to be a little more careful about destroying it now, hm?” Alan regarded him carefully, waiting to see if his eyes would light up again but saw nothing. It was wondering if it was perhaps imagining things itself.

“B-But…”

“Alan was actually the easiest to possess,” the creature said. “His mind and body were already frail so it was a piece of cake really. He had a moment of toughness when I faced him in the guise of a kappa and I was almost tempted to let him go, but in the end…” the creature chuckled. “Would you believe that in the end, he actually died from imaginary drowning?” It started to laugh again, a loud bellow. “He acted so strong! I thought he had a chance, but in the end he just died! I was able to slip in with ease in the end—” The creature suddenly doubled over in a coughing fit and spat up what looked to be black blood. “Unfortunately, the body is still ill,” it said, wiping tears from its eyes. “I could probably heal it with time, but I’d rather just let it die and return to being a pure Djinn.”

“You…could heal it?” Ronald asked. He had been unsuccessful in his attempts to wake up Eric but was suddenly glad this was the case. 

“If I felt so inclined…” it said, raising an eyebrow. “Why, do you have an offer for me? We are fans of bargaining if the terms suit…”

Ronald thought for a moment. “Is Alan still in there somewhere?” he asked. “If he only died a psychological death then he must still be in there somewhere right?”

“Even if he is, he can’t speak,” the creature responded. “He’s essentially in a coma. Just like you should be…”

“What do you mean?” Ronald asked. “You’ve been making strangely cryptic comments throughout this whole conversation… Is there something wrong with me too? Is that why I can see you?”

Alan stared back at him in silence before answering. “You weren’t meant to be part of this,” he said. “We noticed you were too difficult to possess when we were running your horses off course; that’s why you were left outside the forest. You were meant to just die out there like the horses did, but because you’re either too stupid or more intelligent than we realised, you ended up in here anyway.”

“I’m not sure if I should feel complimented or insulted…” Ronald said. “I still don’t know what you’re talking about though.”

The creature sighed. “You were surprisingly easy to duplicate, but when it came to the possession, as we predicted, you were just too stubborn. We almost had you until your stupid friends came in and rescued you. And by that point it was too late…”

“Wait a second…” Ronald said, a horrible realisation dawning over him. “Are you trying to tell me—?”

“Yes. I believe there may be one of my people residing within you. Similar to how Alan is still in here, your mind has somehow managed to supress the Djinn that should be walking around in your skin right now. I must say, I am quite impressed.”

“What do you want?” Ronald asked suddenly. “What would it take for you to heal the body you’re in and let Alan back? And how do I free this thing from inside me?” He could not believe he was trying to bargain with thing, but what choice did he have? He knew that if there was a chance to save Alan he had to take it or he’d never be able to look the others in the eye again. Furthermore, if there truly was some strange entity hiding within him, he needed to get rid of it and fast. 

The creature chuckled. “You have nothing I could possibly want. The only thing I want is freedom and you can’t possibly give that to me.”

“It could take you years to die from the illness in that body, but if we work together, perhaps I can help you,” Ronald said desperately.

The creature looked at him slyly. Perhaps he could use this fool’s desperation to his advantage after all. “You would need to find out the correct chant to free me from the vessel to which I’m bound,” it said. “Something similar to what your superiors were using when they trapped us here. If you’re lucky, you may even be able to expel the Djinn from your own body.”

Ronald thought carefully. The creature had suddenly seemed to change its tone when it realised that he may be possessed as well. It had meant to kill him before, but now… He pondered for a moment whether it meant to use him to get into the dispatch and cause problems, but then realised that if the hints he had been picking up were true, it was the reapers who had sealed the Djinn to begin with. Surely that would mean that if anything were to happen, they would be able to fight back? It wasn't like he had much choice; it was this or death through eventual possession most likely.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Ronald said solemnly.

***

Sebastian gave Ciel a few moments to face whatever was on the other side of the barrier before pulling him back through. He was unsurprised to find the Earl wide eyed as though the darkest depths of hell had been bared before him. “So… What did you see?” he asked, trying to hide the laughter on his lips. Ciel said nothing and continued to stare into nothingness. 

After a while, he managed to compose himself somewhat and said just two words before passing out: “Burn it.” It was not a request; it was an order.

“Yes, My Lord,” Sebastian said, bowing deeply to the young Earl who now lay passed out at his feet. He turned to face the barrier and started to remove his gloves. Deep down he knew that burning would do nothing – the Djinn had been born from smokeless flames after all. 

However, the Earl had not requested that he kill the Djinn, merely to burn the barrier and the horrors that lay within. As he got to work, it came to him that burning the barrier would also give those inside a chance to escape; if they had not already been consumed by the Djinn that is.

As he walked away from the burning forest with the still unconscious Ciel carried in his arms, he could hear the shrieks of both joy and despair as the barrier ripped into pieces, setting a variety of glowing spectres free into the sky. He could hear them cackling as they circled above him before flying away, free from the centuries old barrier that the ancient reapers had put around them to trap the monsters, after a failed deal regarding god-like powers. Sebastian had heard the story many years ago but was never sure if it was true. He wondered how long it had taken the Undertaker to torture the truth out of his old superiors before they had finally disclosed the location. 

***

“Wait a second,” William said, holding out an arm to stop Grell in his tracks. “I think I can hear something.”

The two of them walked forwards until they came across two figures seemingly standing off against each other in a small clearing. As they drew closer, they realised it was Ronald and Alan. The two figures turned to face them as they approached.

“Hey!” Grell called, running over. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

William also approached, somewhat more cautiously before spotting Eric passed out and running over to him. “What happened here, Knox?” has asked Ronald, sitting Eric up and trying to wake him.

Ronald glanced cautiously at Alan before turning to face William. “Nothing,” he said. “Nothing happened; Eric is just still passed out after whatever happened that caused the forest to go black.”

Alan looked at Ronald and smiled slightly. “Alright then, we have a deal,” he said, reaching out to shake Ronald’s hand, which he did.

“What’s…?” Grell asked but trailed off when Eric started to moan as he woke up.

Alan pulled Ronald close until he could whisper into his ear: “You have until this body is healed to find a way to free us. If you fail I will kill both you and the vessel in which I reside.”

“I’ll take what I can get,” Ronald growled. “Now get us out of here.”

***

Ciel was not surprised to find himself back home when he woke up again. Sebastian stood next to his bed with tray full of tea and porridge.

“Good morning Young Master,” he smiled. “Or should I say good afternoon?”

Ciel sat up in his bed, somewhat dizzy. “It was dealt with?” he asked.

“It was,” Sebastian said bowing slightly. “The forest was burnt along with the barrier, as you requested.”

Ciel detected a slight hint of a smile on the demon’s lips as though there was something he was hiding, but decided not to question it. Instead he just stretched before taking a sip of tea from the cup on the tray which Sebastian had now placed on his lap. “Very well,” he said. “We shall report back to the Undertaker in due course.”

***

After what felt like an eternity walking through a path of seemingly endless trees, the five reapers finally emerged onto the road where the horses had run off course. The sight was met by a variety of happy cries and a few hugs between them, including much to everyone’s surprise, from William. Eric remembered nothing of the exchange between him, Ronald and Alan prior to being knocked out. Ronald had been cautiously watching ‘Alan’ for the whole walk under the pretence of supporting him due to his injured leg.

After Eric had woken up, the five of them had regrouped, each staring somewhat sceptically at the other. “If it really you?” William had asked once they got Eric to his feet.

“I… I think so,” Eric had responded. “At least I hope so… something doesn’t feel quite right…”

“You had a nasty bump to the head,” Alan had said somewhat bluntly. “When the forest started to change you fainted and fell over.”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right… Wait a minute!” he’d suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Ronald. “There’s something not right about Ronald! His eyes… they kept glowing or something and he was screaming something about Alan—”

“Don’t worry about that,” Alan said. “We figured it out, it was just… the remnants of the spell causing him to hallucinate."

“Th-That’s right…” Ronald had agreed, laughing nervously. “Now what say we find a way out of here huh? I say we pick a direction and keep walking…”

William had walked up to him then and stared into his eyes, taking Ronald somewhat by surprise. “J-Jeeze boss… Take a step back will ya? Otherwise it won’t be just rumours about you and Grell being spread around the office…”

“What do you want to do when you get out of here?” William asked. Although the fake Ronald had been able to answer this question a long time ago up in the tree, he wanted to check anyway, as he doubted a fake would remember such a foolish question.

Ronald had stared back at him for a moment, his mind trying to work out what on earth he was asking before suddenly remembering. “Oh yeah! Well of course I want to learn how to belly dance while reciting the alphabet backwards in Jamaican!” he'd exclaimed before leaning a bit closer and saying “Although what I really want to do is finally ask out that cute receptionist” and winking.

This had seemed to satisfy William who nodded and stepped back again. “Fine. Now let’s get out of here before I have to spend an eternity with you fools.”

*

“I can’t believe it!” Grell cried as they stood in the middle of the road. “Actual road! Sky! Stars… Something that isn’t trees!”

“The question is where do we go from here?” William asked, looking left and right.

“I think our question is about to be answered,” Eric said, pointing towards what looked like a carriage and horses a short distance away. 

“I don’t believe it…” Ronald muttered. “Why on earth would there be one of those here? It’s got to be a trap right?” he asked, turning to face Alan, who just shrugged in return.

“Perhaps just more unfortunate souls like ourselves…” he said.

Cautiously, the five of them approached the carriage and saw that there was a royal crest stamped upon it. The closer they got, the stronger the smell that seemed to permeate from it became. “Demons…” William spat.

“Not just any demons, my darling Sebastian!” Grell cried happily, running over to it and looking disappointed when he found it empty.

“Huh… Well I guess this could explain what happened to the forest…” Eric said, looking back at the charred mess that had been the woodland. “Do you think we can just take it?”

“It doesn’t matter, we’re going to,” William said. “Get inside. We can take it in turns controlling the horses.”

“We still don’t know where we’re going though,” Ronald pointed out, looking at the vast stretch of road in either direction.

“It does not matter,” William said, starting to climb up into the driver’s seat. The horses remained surprisingly calm. “I’ll turn them around and head back in whatever direction they came from. We’re sure to find civilisation eventually.”

Without saying another word, the others nodded in agreement and climbed into the coach. Once they were all safely inside, William gave a slight tug of the reigns and turned the carriage around before finally setting off away from the cursed forest. Inside, the others leant back in their seats. They had never felt more exhausted in their lives. Grell looked out of the window as the sun started to rise, illuminating the ground which was covered in a thin layer of frost.

“Looks like we’ve been gone for a while…” Eric said. “I’m pretty sure it was summer when we set out.”

Alan and Ronald just looked at each other briefly, neither saying a word as they let the carriage carry them home.

 

_ONE MONTH LATER_

"Hey Boss, I got some more recruitment letters for you,” the young reaper said, stepping into William’s office.

“Just put them over there with the rest,” William said, nodding his head towards a large stack of papers without looking up

“Sure thing,” the other reaper said. “Oh, and I was told to inform you that they’re changing the time of the meeting regarding Project Djinn to one instead of two this afternoon.”

“Thanks Charles, I’ll be there,” William said, finally lifting his head and dismissing the reaper from his office. He leant back in his chair and sighed. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to say regarding the situation. What could he say? How exactly does one react to coming back after being missing for over half a year, only to find one’s workplace in a state of chaos and disarray?

“Hey Will~” an overly cheerful voice called from his doorway.

“What do you want, Sutcliff?” he asked, irritated. Ronald had, as promised, informed him all about the ‘Grelliam’ rumours as they were referred to upon their return to the office, although given the amount of reapers that had had to be replaced, it seemed like Ronald was the only one still aware of them. Still, that did not stop William becoming nervous every time Grell came to his office, should others get the wrong idea.

“I just wanted to check that you were aware of the time change…” Grell said, somewhat sadly. “After everything we’ve been through, you’re still so mean!”

William almost apologised before changing his mind. “I don’t have time to consider your feelings,” he said, standing up from his desk. “Have you spoken to the others yet today?”

“Only to Ronald,” Grell said. “He is apparently still trying to get hold of Undertaker.” He thought for a moment. “Although he’s been acting pretty weird since we got back; he’s been reading a lot more than usual.”

“Well, one can’t blame him for acting odd after everything that happened,” William said, gesturing for Grell to get out of his office. “I’m going to get a coffee and then look for Eric and Alan. Join me if you want.”

“Oh my! Are you asking me on a coffee date~?” Grell asked happily, managing to dodge William’s fist moments before it collided with his skull. The dark haired reaper could not understand how Grell was still so cheerful after everything but decided it best not to question it. Everyone copes with stress in different ways after all. The two of them went off to prepare for the dispatch-wide meeting after which they would all hopefully become senior reapers.

Meanwhile, Alan sat in Eric’s office where the two of them were also drinking coffee. “Are you going to be okay at the meeting?” Eric asked. “I’d understand if you want to skip it with your leg still being sore and everything.”

“Don’t worry,” Alan smiled. “It’s only a limp now. Besides, I’ve been feeling better every day.”

“You have been coughing a lot less…” Eric said thoughtfully. “Maybe the magic of that forest did some good after all.” 

“Maybe, maybe…” Alan said, standing up. “Anyway, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and find Ronald; I have to ask him something.”

“Sure…” Eric said, standing to open the door for him.

“Thanks Eric,” Alan said, smiling just a little too widely as he walked through.

“Uh, Alan?” Eric asked the small reaper as he limped away trying to support his left leg.

“Yes?” Alan replied, turning to face him a little.

“....Wasn't your right leg the one that you hurt?”

“Oh yes, you're right... Oops,” said Alan, swapping legs suddenly and causing something to clatter to the ground in the process. Seemingly not noticing, he carried on out of the door and made his way down the corridor. 

After waiting to make sure he was gone, Eric bent over and picked up the item that had fallen and looked at it – a long metal hairpin with a small red rose at its tip.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all that have read this, both on deviantart and on AO3. I hope you enjoyed it, because it took a stupidly long time to actually write and finish!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read this! I wrote it over 5 years on Deviantart and now I'm publishing it here. Enjoy! Feedback welcome~


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